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12/05/2026 8:50 am
By 1965 the original all steel GT40 weighed 2900 lbs and the standing order was to lop 1000 lbs off this beast. Enter Jaguar centric Abbey Panels under the auspices of Bruce McLaren to create 3 all aluminum roadsters that met that requirement. They were sent back to Ford and Kar Kraft originally as test beds for different engines including the 427, transmissions and more aerodynamic tweaking including a longer nose. Two of the three ultimately disappeared somewhere and the remaining roadster, GT110 was to be sent back to Bruce McLaren in England to assemble, prepare and race the car with the 427 at the 1965 Le Mans. Now called the X1, the car was raced 4 times and almost all were DNFs. With McLaren's configuration obviously not working out, so it was handed over to Shelby American who tested a Ford 2speed transmission and a new nose and other features that would make it the prototype for the next gen J Car. Back with the GT40 nose, it was entered in the 1966 Sebring where it took the overall win over the Ferrari 330P4, the Chaparral and Porsche... even besting production GT40s. Well, it was a one and done for the X1. Plans to have Holman & Moody rebuild the car never happened as US Customs ordered the car destroyed.
Here's the Exoto model of the X1 as driven by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby in the Sebring win:
12/05/2026 11:22 am
I'm not necessarily into racing cars, but the GT was always a favorite and this one is a topper. Thank you for sharing the pics, RS.
12/05/2026 11:25 am
What a gorgeous model, detail everywhere! I don't see too many scale seats that look like "seats!" Great history & pics. 👍 👍 👍
12/05/2026 11:55 am
What many do not know is Shelby had the cut up before the customs inspector arrived and it was in a dumpster, you can't do that the car had to be destroyed in front of the customers inspectors, so Shelby had the car haphazardly welded back together just to cut it up in front of the customs inspector. It is said the car was then buried and today an apartment building stands on that property where the car was buried. There is a GT40 X-1 that someone built who claims it is the original, he says this because he claims the rear firewall is from the original car but there is no proof of that.
Shelby could have paid the import duties on the car but he did not want to spend the money and decided to destroy the car. The other option was the car be returned to McLaren but McLaren did not want the car because he was unable to make it competitive. That just shows you how talented the Shelby American crew was that they could take this car and make it a competitive winner.
This post was modified 6 months ago by john3976