1967 Ford GT40 MK IV Being Auctioned At Mecum Kissimmee 2023

Even as the a few GT40 Mk II racers had been completing their famed 1-2-3 sweep of the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ford Motor Firm and its in-residence specialty contractor Kar Kraft of Brighton, Michigan, were really hard at work developing an all-American successor to the Anglo-American Mk II: the “J-Auto.” Named in reference to the FIA’s Appendix J policies for sporting activities prototypes, this all-new racer was dependent on a really sophisticated chassis manufactured of honeycomb-aluminum sandwich paneling made by the Brunswick Plane Company. Lightweight and extremely rigid, the new chassis saved significant bodyweight in comparison to that of the extra common Mk II, a crucial need in a auto created to carry the huge iron-block, iron-head NASCAR 427 engine and the large-responsibility ancillaries it demanded.

Original checks exposed critical aerodynamic challenges, but in depth bodywork revisions by Shelby American Chief Engineer Phil Remington and subsequent relentless tests evolved the J-Automobile into the formidable GT40 Mk IV. The most technically state-of-the-art and impressive racing prototype ever created to its time, the Mk IV eventually fulfilled Henry Ford II’s want to construct an all-American racer, driven by American drivers, to earn the world’s best stamina race.

With Shelby-American motorists Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt sharing duties, the Mk IV shipped a next consecutive victory for Ford at Le Mans in 1967 and also received the FIA’s Index of Thermal Performance as the most gas-productive entrant, an astounding achievement presented its monstrous ability. The GT40’s absolute dominance was hence recognized, and Ford’s resounding double defeat of Ferrari grew to become just one of the most unforgettable chapters in the historical past of motorsports. In just two races, Sebring and Le Mans, the Mk IV so overwhelmed the levels of competition that the FIA rendered it unlawful for 1968.

In the conclusion, only 12 Mk IV chassis have been created, the to start with four of which bore the unique J-Automobile bodywork. Two of these have been ruined in screening, one particular occasion of which took the everyday living of the wonderful Ken Miles. The next group of four had been equipped with the Remington-produced Mk IV bodies and raced 2 times in 1967, compiling a ideal two-for-twi get report.

The last 4 chassis were being still left uncompleted when the FIA introduced new guidelines for 1968 that disqualified the Mk IV from competitiveness. Two of those chassis, J-9 and J-10, were created by Kar Kraft into open up-cockpit racers using the remaining spares from the Le Mans energy. J-9 was fitted with a twin-component dihedral rear wing and was analyzed in Ford’s wind tunnel and at the company’s Michigan examination observe pushed by Mario Andretti, but it was by no means raced. In February 1969, the complete lot—J-9, J-10 and all the remaining spares—were offered for $1 to Agapiou Racing in Los Angeles, owned by previous Shelby mechanics Charlie and Kerry Agapiou. Ford hooked up one particular proviso: that they could purchase everything back again for the same price tag for the expression of one particular year. That under no circumstances arrived to move.

The Agapiou brothers ambitiously took intention at the 1969 Can Am sequence with J-10, fitting it with new open-cockpit bodywork, a Chaparral-motivated higher rear wing and Boss 429 electrical power. In a two-year marketing campaign that lasted by means of the 1970 year, J-10 was pushed by these kinds of star motorists as Peter Revson, Jack Brabham, George Follmer, David Hobbs and Vic Elford, with Canadian John Cannon most frequently behind the wheel. In truth, it was Cannon who drove J-10 to its very best finish, putting second in that year’s Kyalami Team 7 invitational.