When you think of a famous car manufacturer, it is hard for Ford not to come to mind. With such a huge influence and the Ford F series trucks being some of the best selling vehicles in the world, Ford has cemented itself as one of the biggest car manufacturers ever. When it comes to racing history, Ford has undoubtedly one of the greatest stories, all surrounding one specific car, the Ford GT40. Between feuds with the Italians and deaths of superstar racers, the Ford GT40 has created a racing history and legacy that is unmatched by almost any other car in the world.

The first chassis made for a Ford GT40 was produced in 1964; this chassis was developed in the UK as a car for small motorsports not under Ford, and after a not-so-impressive performance from this chassis originally, it was decided to remake it from the base up, as the chassis withstood the racing, almost everything else on the car proved disappointing. Ford had just produced a powerful, smaller displacement V8 engine that was woven into the car; this coupled with the lightweight aluminum frame and the car being lower than anything on the track at this time gave it a serious advantage over competitors. The engineering was revolutionary for this car at the time and put Ford in a solid position with their racing career. 

However, the GT40 could not compete with Ferrari, who Ford had tried to buy.  This was a business deal with Ferrari involving Ford purchasing Ferrari for their new racing department. Ferrari famously declined, and Ford deemed that they needed to defeat Ferrari in a race that Ferrari had been leading for the past few years, the 24-hours LeMons race in France, an endurance race that was hugely famous across the world.  This was portrayed in the movie Ford vs Ferrari, which has become very popular, with actors such as Christian Bale and Matt Damon. The GT40 was a born competitor to the Ferrari 365 P2. 

The Ferrari would not be easy to beat for Ford unfortunately, with Ferrari having dominated LeMons in most of the recent prior years, and with their car having been carefully crafted through many years, whereas Ford only had 11 months before LeMons to build the GT40 and enter it into the race. Ford’s acquisition of the chassis from a British motorsports company and the original small displacement V8 enabled them to have some competing power with Ferrari, but when they showed up to LeMons 11 months later to put their car to the test, every GT40 they had broke down, and Ferrari took another first place.

The Ford team found the car didn’t have enough horsepower to beat Ferrari, so Carroll Shelby was hired by Ford in a partnership to help develop the GT40 with the goal of being a LeMons-winning car.  Shelby placed a brand new Ford-developed V8 into the GT40. With a massive displacement of 7 liters, it was an engineering marvel that they fit the roaring V8 into the mid engined lightweight GT40. With this added pep, Shelby’s chosen driver Ken Miles, a World War Two veteran and outstanding racer, pushed the GT40 around the track at a whopping 210 miles per hour, a LeMons winning pace, and a feat that most modern cars cannot achieve. It wasn’t until Ford hired Carrol Shelby and his company Shelby motors that they actually started to beat Ferrari, and after revisions upon the GT40 by Shelby, such as the large 7 liter V8, the GT40 proceeded to win LeMons, and held the lead 4 years in a row, even after the death of Shelby’s famous driver Ken Miles in a GT40 on a track in California.

In more recent years, the now antique and classic Shelby GT40 retails for around 215,000 usd, putting it well in the supercar category. Its newer predecessor the Ford GT is one of the most wild track money can buy, with an incredible amount of innovation and technology having been put into it to uphold the Ford motorsports name. The Ford GT40 name was eventually discontinued in 2002, production of the cars had slowed majorly and Ford eventually changed the name to the Ford GT. This was mainly because Ford wanted to continue the name but change it to more of a supercar application for its legendary track car. It is a very well renowned car, with a massive amount of history behind it, and still dominates tracks all over; it is one of the only supercars today that can compete with German and Italian competition. Ford made a truly legendary car with Shelby, the story being so well renowned that there was a movie made about it. The Ford GT40 is one of the most influential and legendary cars made in the 21st century.