1966 Ford GT40 MKII Coupe

Ford Advanced Vehicles Ltd at Slough, Buckinghamshire, England shipped GTP40 P '1033' to Geneva, Switzerland on January 14th of 1966. At the time of shipping, it was unpainted and incomplete, as it was destined for the Graber coachworks. The car was completed, trimmed and prepared as a road car for Georges Filipinetti, patron of the Scuderia Filipinetti racing team.

Graber completed the road-going car in early 1967. It was painted in light metallic blue with amenities such as electric door windows, full leather interior and air-conditioning. This special car was featured on the front cover of the British 'Car' magazine issue of February 1967. The following month it was on display at the Geneva Salon.

The car did not remain with Filipinetti for long; it was immediately offered for sale through Geneva Ferrari dealer Jean-Jacques Weber. The car was purchased by Geneva resident and millionaire, Jaime Ortiz-Patino.

1033 was Swiss road registered on May 5th of 1967. Ortiz-Patino drove it for a while before having all its special trim removed. The car was converted into a race car for his godson, Dominique Martin. The car was driven in a series of minor-league national hill-climb events, such as the Col de la faucille and at Beaujolais in 1968. After qualifying for a full competition license, the car was raced at Montlhery. A series of major international endurance races followed, including the Le Mans 24-Hours. Co-driving the GT40 was Frenchman Jean-Pierre Hanrioud. At the time, the pale blue car wore 'ZITRO' lettering across its nose, reflecting the Ortiz-Patino family sponsorship.

On April 25th, Marin/Hanrioud raced '1033' at the Monza 1000Kms round of the FIA World Championship of Makes, and finished 15th overall. At the Montlhery 1000Kms, the car finished ninth overall, fourth in their class. The following weekend, the car contested the Hockenheim 300-Miles in Germany, again finishing ninth.

In 1970 the car was shipped to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the opening round of the new year's World Championship series. The car retired at the Buenos Aires Autodrome on January 11th due to transmission failure. On January 18th, it placed twelfth overall in the Championship-qualifying Buenos Aires 1000Kms. In March, the car was back in France and contesting the public road Rallye de l'Ouest where it finished second overall with navigator Chini.

The ZITRO Ford GT40 was repainted in a non-metallic pale blue and was offered for sale via ex-Scuderia Filipinetti mechanic Michel Berney. On October 26th, the car caught on fire while being driven from Berney's home to the garage premises. The fire was put out but on the GT40's steel-paneled chassis was intact. Almost everything else was burned.

The destruction was documented through photographs. After the fire, the car was cleaned up and painted. In 1972 it was subsequently owned by fellow Scuderia Filipinetti alumni Franco Sbarro. After Sbarro, the chassis went to British racer David Piper in 1974, with the Swiss description of the car claiming it to be the Filipinetti team GT40 that had burned at Monza in 1967 (which was actually GT40 P/1040). Piper sold the car under that mistaken identity to American Paul Chandler. The chassis was part restored during this period by British specialists John Etheridge, Paul Weldon and Reg Chapple.

The next owner was an American named Bud Romak. At this point in history, the chassis was still incorrectly identified. A restoration later followed in 1983 with the work handled by Californian specialist Phil Reilly.

The car was subsequently vintage raced for several years before it was sold in 1988. Ronnie Spain was asked to identify the vehicle. The car was identified as the ex-Martin Team ZITRO car.

The car was sold to American Tom Armstrong who retained it ever since. The car has appeared at the Monterey Historics on several occasions, along with numerous other US vintage races, including Elkhart Lake, Sears Point and Portland International Raceway.

In 2012, this vehicle was offered for sale at the Quail Lodge presented by Bonhams Auction. As bidding came to a close, the car had been sold for the sum of $2,205,000 including buyer's premium.

By Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2012