Ford has engineered, designed and manufactured some of the most iconic performance cars throughout the ’60s and ’70s. The Mustang, Torino and T-bird. Naturally, the pinnacle of Ford performance is the GT40. Destined to compete toe-to-toe with the Italians across the pond at LeMans, it succeeded in a 1-2-3 finish at the haloed race, and would ultimately go on to win the 24 Hours of Lemans in ’66, ’67, ’68 and ’69.
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However, it was this particular car that kicked the whole thing off in the first place, and was built by Shelby American with a 289 SBF with Weber carbs and a 4-speed transmission. Built in ’65 as a rolling test bed, the GT40 108 Prototype would pave the way for the GT40s (and their 21st century counterparts) to come.
It was the first of four similar prototypes and was the sole example driven by Jim Clark. In fact, it was also piloted by Sir Sterling Moss, Henry Ford II, Carroll Shelby, Ken Miles and Jack Brabham. Although the car was never actually raced on a circuit, its legend is truly significant as it serves as genesis of what would come.
We found this video over the weekend and felt that although the clip is a couple of years old, and was intended to shed some insight for a then upcoming auction, we felt that that story should be retold to those who may not know about this car.
Rick Seitz is the owner and founder of AutoCentric Media, the parent company to Timeless Muscle Magazine, and has a true love and passion for all vehicles. When he isn’t tuning, testing, or competing with the magazine’s current crop of project vehicles, he’s busy tinkering and planning the next round modifications for his own cars.
