Car of the Week: This 1965 Ford GT Prototype Roadster Could Fetch $10 Million at Auction
Here is the car that helped pave the way for Ford's historic domination over the Prancing Horse at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966, a motorsport saga that inspired the 2019 blockbuster film Ford v Ferrari. This 1965 Ford GT Competition Prototype Roadster was one of only five low-slung, open-top examples built in the run-up to Ford's four consecutive landmark victories at Circuit de la Sarthe between 1966 and 1969. Of that quintet, GT/109 is the only one that competed in the legendary French endurance classic.
To see the car's place in racing history, rewind to 1965 when Ford was fast-tracking its Le Mans-focused GT40 program. In preparation, its Ford Advanced Vehicles division—in the UK—had built a total of 12 hardtop and roadster prototypes.
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Compared to the other four GT Prototype Roadsters, GT/109 was unique in having a three-inch longer chassis and a thundering Shelby Cobra–spec 289 cubic-inch V-8 that was mid-mounted behind the cockpit. It also came with knock-off Halibrand magnesium racing wheels instead of wires, front corner air dams, side-mounted engine oil coolers, and a removable center-section rollover bar.
Prepared by Carroll Shelby's famed Shelby American workshop in Venice, Calif., GT/109 was painted in the Ford of France racing livery presenting white with a dark blue center stripe bordered in red. Weighing 2,350 pounds, the car was the lightest of the six Ford GTs entered at Le Mans in 1965.
For the race, the car would be piloted by French motorsport stars Maurice Trintignant, who drove a Daytona Coupe for Shelby in the 1964 Tour de France, and Guy Ligier, who went on to compete in Formula 1 before becoming a long-time F1 constructor.
Trintignant was pilot for the start of the race but was in the pits after just two laps with an engine misfire. Back out on the track, the car lasted just nine more laps before a broken gearbox ended its race. None of the other five GT Prototypes would finish either.
After the race, GT/109 went to Ford's Michigan-based prototype builder, Kar Kraft, for use in the development of the GT40. There, it was tested with an experimental four-cam racing V-8 as well as an experimental braking system. When Kar Kraft's work on the vehicle was completed, it was shipped to Shelby American in Los Angeles for a full rebuild, then trucked back across country to Ford's headquarters in Detroit, where it was mothballed in storage.
In 1968, Dean Jeffries, a renowned Hollywood stuntman and car customizer, was in Detroit with racer A.J. Foyt to see Ford's head of racing, Jacques Passino. The story goes that during the meeting, Jeffries spotted GT/109 sitting in the warehouse and asked Passino if he could buy it. 'No problem, you can have it. We're done with the Roadsters,' said Passino.
Jeffries, famous for having painted 'Little Bastard' on the side of James Dean's ill-fated 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, would go on to keep this open-top GT for 45 years, until his death in 2013. That year, auction guru Dana Mecum bought the car from Jeffries' son and immediately plunged into a concours-quality restoration with Harley Cluxton III of Arizona-based Grand Touring Cars Inc.
The renovation of GT/109 was completed in the nick of time for its debut at the 2016 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, part of a special class celebrating the 50th anniversary of Ford's Le Mans victory. It took second in class, behind the fabled 1966 Le Mans–winning GT40 piloted by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon. A week later, it won Best in Show at the Milwaukee Concours d'Elegance. Last year, it finished second in class again, this time at the Amelia Concours d'Elegance in Florida, where it lost out to the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO that won the 1964 Tour de France.
Martyn L. Schorr, Ford GT40 authority and author of Ford Total Performance, calls GT/109 'a stunning example of Ford's open-top Prototype GT, with the added distinction of being only one of two still in existence. He also states: 'This is the car commissioned by the Godfather of the GT40, head of Ford Advanced Concepts, Roy Lunn. . . . It is truly a unique part of Ford racing history.'
The only other Ford GT Competition Prototype Roadster in existence, GT/108, was sold at the 2019 RM Sotheby's Monterey auction for $7.65 million. This example is set to cross the auction block at Mecum's Indy 2025 sale in Indianapolis on May 17, where it's estimated to fetch between $7.5 million and $10 million.Best of Robb Report
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