Ford built only thirteen 7-litre GT40 coupes, and of them only eleven were built from scratch as 1966 Mark IIAs. Of the eleven, five became Mark IIBs, two were wrecked, and one was converted to a Mark I. That leaves just three remaining as Mark IIAs, although several of the IIBs have been put back into IIA configuration. Only two examples, this one (XGT-3) and 1032, are in essentially original, as-built, condition - and this is the only one still wearing its original paintwork! This historic 1966 car is perhaps best known for its appearances in those beautiful Autolite advertisements, when Ford referred to it as a car costing $100,000 - which in those days was a huge sum of money.
In 1994, at Road America (when and where the photograph alongside was taken) your webmaster spoke with Steele Therkleson, a former Shelby mechanic, who enthused about XGT-3, reckoning that more than any other Mark II it reminded him exactly of how these cars were in their heyday.
Although this car is for sale, we are NOT authorised by the vendor to put any details on this website. However, for the sake of completeness (we try to show as many for-sale GT40s as we can) we are dealing with it here in our News pages. Consequently, if you are interested in purchasing it, we suggest you set Google the task of finding it. If you and Google can’t find it, but you are serious about a purchase, get in touch with us and we shall pass your details on to the vendor.
GT40
The legendary GT40 is coming back to life. Follow a team of builders as they turn that dream into reality. The team builds an exact replica of the GT40 to surprise Carroll Shelby on his 85th birthday. Aesthetically perfect, dimensionally correct and as reliable as the original. It's a ride that's going to get a little more than attention on this episode of Hot Rod TV.
Saturday, May 31, 2008, 9:30am
Friday, June 06, 2008, 3:30am
We were saddened to hear the news that legendary race car driver and journalist Paul Frère died on 23 February, at the age of 91. Not only was he an engineer, he was also an accomplished driver. Sharing with Olivier Gendebien, at the wheel of a works Ferrari Testa Rossa, he won the 1960 Le Mans 24-hours. He wrote some quite remarkable books, such as his treatises on Porsche sports-racing cars. Your webmaster was lucky enough to meet him once at Le Mans, and found him to be one of nature’s gentlemen.
The world of motorsport will be a lesser place without him.
