1966 Ford GT40 MK IIB Coupe

This GT40 was delivered to Shelby American in November 1965 and prepared for its first race, the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1966. With Dan Gurney driving, it led for most of that race, but the engine blew on the last corner and, breaking the rules, Gurney pushed the car across the finish line. After racing at LeMans that June the car was upgraded to the new MK IIB specification for the 1967 season, starting with 24-hour races at Daytona and Sebring. LeMans was the next event for drivers Paul Hawkins and Ronnie Bucknum. After 17 hours the car retired with a seized engine. Around this time, official Ford records show that P/1031 changed identity and became P/1047. Although the reason is unclear, many race car identities were swapped due to accidents or matters related to race registration. Whatever the case, two weeks later, Ford of France entered this car in the 12 Hours of Reims, where it finished in 1st place, driven by Jo Schlesser and Guy Ligier. This was the final win for a GT40 MKII and the only win for a MK IIB. After several more races, concluding with the race at Montlhery, the car was retired. The car has been carefully preserved ever since.

Nobody knows quite how, but sometime during the mid-June 1967, this MKII-B GT40, which had started life as P/1031, a 7-liter MKII GT40 built at Ford Advanced Vehicles in Slough, England, mysteriously changed identity and became P/1047. A Ford insider recalls that at the beginning of each racing season, a carnet had to be raised for each car and a large bond deposited to insure its appearance on the start line. In the event of an accident that made it impossible to repair a car before it was due to race again, it was less expensive to switch chassis plates with another car than to forfeit the money that had been deposited. That's what seems to have happened to this car, which had already completed a grueling season's racing in 1966 before being upgraded to 1967 MkII-B specification, which its 427 cubic inch V8 engine modified to deliver greater power, reliability and durability.

For the 1967 LeMans 24-Hour race, Ford - anxious to repeat its sensational 1-2-3 victory of 1966 - entered a six-car team. This car, which ran as number 57, was painted light blue, and No. 1047, which was painted gold and ran as No. 5, were accompanied by four of the lighter and more aerodynamic MkIV "J-Cars" which bonded aluminum honeycomb frames. This car retired after 18 hours with a seized engine. GT40 No. 1047 had already crashed and would not race again that year.

After a hasty rebuild by Holman and Moody in Charlotte, NC, this car - now fitted with the chassis plate of No. 1047 - returned to France and won a 12 hour race just two weeks after LeMans. It was the last MkII - and the only MkII-B - to win a race.