1967 Ford GT40 Coupe

The Ford GT40 was the brainchild of John Wyer and Eric Broadley and built at the behest of Henry Ford II solely to beat Ferrari at the 24 Hours of LeMans. From 1966 to 1969, it won four consecutive victories at the French endurance race, sealing the GT40's legacy in history.

The original GT40 was overseen by Ford's management in Dearborn, Michigan and largely built by specialists in the United Kingdom. In early 1966, Ford made the patriotic shift to have it become a US-built car. This began with the 'J-Car', so named because it was built to the FIA's new Appendix J regulations. This new model was designed in-house and built in Detroit at Kar Kraft.

The J-Car, later known as the MK IV, was different from the original GT40. It used space-age aluminum honeycomb material for the majority of its structured. The original bodywork was penned by stylists, but after testing at LeMans in April 1966 revealed excessive drag, a wind tunnel was utilized to perfect the shape.

Appendix J regulations allowed engines of up to seven liters. Ford selected a 427 CID V-8 unit that was developed from NASCAR engines of the period. This engine offered reliability and performance, and gave the MK IV a top speed of 215 mph.

The first competitive outing for the MK IV was at the 1967 24 Hours of LeMans. Chassis J-5, driven by Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt, took the checkered flag in victory for Ford. The following year, the FIA had again changed its regulations, which limited engine capacity to five liters, and making the MK IV obsolete.

In total, 12 examples of the MK IV were built.

This particular example is J-12. It is one of two spare chassis built for the LeMans effort. It was purchased from Ford as an unnumbered, bare tub by Harry T. Heinl of Miami Lakes, Florida, around 1970. Heinl also bought J-4 and J-7, as well as the GT40 P/1015, at the same time.

In 1977, the tub was purchased by Brian Angliss. Mr. Angliss had previously purchased the other spare MK IV tub directly from Ford. This tub, along with many spare parts from the factory LeMans effort, were later sold to Rob Leach of Hertfordshire, England. It was decided which of the previously unnumbered cars would receive the J-11 and J-12 monikers, and this car was numbered J-12. Just a single set of original bodywork existed for the two spare tubs. J-12 was given an original nose, while the tail was reproduced out of aluminum, with the inverse arrangement supplied to J-11.

Mr. Leach contracted with Mr. Angliss to build J-12 suing the period spare parts that Mr. Angliss had accumulated. A correct 427 Ford engine, with rare tunnel port heads, was fitted with wet sump lubrication and installed in the engine bay. A correct T-44 transaxle was found in England in 1984, and the project was finished in 1987. That year, J-12 drove demonstration laps at the 1987 24 Hours of LeMans in commemoration of the model's victory there two decades earlier. J-12 was later displayed at events such as the British Grand Prix and the Donington and Silverstone Historic Festivals.

The current caretaker acquired J-12 from Mr. Leach on August 12th of 1994. In 2015, J-12 received an FIA Historic Technical Passport which makes its eligible for FIA-sanctioned historic motor sports events.

By Daniel Vaughan | May 2018