The 1965 Ford GT40 X1.... [PIC]

Love these Roadsters.  Its interesting how upright the windscreen looks compared to the closed coupes.

It's the little things, right?   When I see scale hood-pins & lanyards, bungee-cords, and a wiper assembly it just brings a smile to my face. 😀  

Really astounding details ! Ford certainly had an extensive program in those times. Who makes this beauty ?

Posted by: @mikedetorrice

Who makes this beauty ?

@mikedetorrice, its by Exoto.

Another great tale with wonderful pictures, Rich. I understand that US Customs destroyed the car because Ford refused to pay import duties. He wanted it in his Detroit Museum but as it was built in England, duties had to be paid for a permanent stay in the USA. 

The other missing car, according to a few accounts, was put by Carroll Shelby into a large hole dug for the purpose, on his California property after another dispute with Ford.

Anyway, interesting stuff.

@david-green Didn't a similar thing happen to the bulk of the Chrysler Turbine Cars?

@rich-sufficool, here's what the wiki says, "In April 1966, product planning and development vice president Harry E. Chesebrough noted that the 50 test cars would be taken off the road regardless of whether the Chrysler Turbine Car went into production.^[71] Chrysler destroyed 46 of the cars after it finished the user program and other public displays. Forty-five of the cars were burned and crushed at a scrapyard south of Detroit, and the other was destroyed at Chrysler's Chelsea Proving Grounds.^[78][79] A widely circulated explanation was that the cars were destroyed to avoid a substantial tariff on the imported Ghia bodies, although author Steve Lehto claims that this idea has been "largely discredited".^[80] The destruction of the cars was in line with the automobile industry's practice of not selling non-production or prototype cars to the public. According to Lehto, the decision was influenced by Chrysler's public relations concerns: the potential difficulty of keeping the cars running and fears that owners would replace the turbine powerplants with piston engines.^[80] A Chrysler executive was quoted in Look: "Our main objective is research, and we did not want turbines turning up on used-car lots."^[80] A similar practice was later used by General Motors with its EV1 when it terminated the program and destroyed most of the cars in 2003.^[81]"

This car was originally sent to McLaren and McLaren never did make it competitive the time they had it. The body work was different when McLaren was attempting to develop the car. The car was ultimately shipped to Shelby American and they had the car reconfigured with the GT40 front and rear body work and the car was raced at the 1966 12 hours of Sebring for its one and only race in America. It is true the car won the 1966 12 hours of Sebring with Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby as the drivers however if Dan Gurney had not lost his engine in a GT40 MKII coupe in the last corner of the race he would have been the winner. Ken Miles was surprised that he was the winner and Lloyd Ruby was showering when he was told they had won the race and had to quickly finish showering and make it to the podium with Ken Miles. 

If I remember correctly this car was using an automatic transmission during practice but they kept having problems with the automatic so they changed it out to a manual for the race. 

The car was to be shipped to Holman and Moody to be rebuilt as Sebring is such a rough track the car was worn out from that one race. Before the car could be rebuilt customs contacted Shelby American and told Carrol Shelby that he either had to pay the customs duty owned on the car or it had to be destroyed. Shelby decided to destroy the car. But in order for the car to be declared destroyed it had to be destroyed in front of the customs officer so Shelby had the car welded back together and it was cut apart a second time in front of the customs officer this time. 

Rumor has it the car was buried and an apartment complex was built on the lot the car was buried at. There is an X1 Roadster that the owner claims is the original because they claim they used the firewall to recreate the car but that is unlikely and that car is just a reproduction copy. 

If only Shelby American had known the significance of this car in the future I bet they would have paid the custom duties on it instead of destroying it.

John Wyer was originally in charge of the GT40 program but he wanted to develop the car over time and Ford wanted the car to beat Ferrari now, that is when they handed over development to Shelby American and Holman and Moody as well. The GT40 program came to an end due to the FIA outlawing the big 7 liter engine. John Wyer campaigned an earlier GT40 to two Le Mans wins after Ford dropped out giving Ford four straight wins showing just how good the GT40 concept was. Interesting that Ferrari has never won the overall victory since Ford won in 1966 a total of 57 years now since Ferraris last overall Le Mans win. 

@jkuvakas I guess the destruction of those 46 cars blamed on nasty customs officials was a better PR spin than the reality of a pure coroprate decision that would seem immensely cold-hearted to the average car lover. Thanks for the info, John.

@rich-sufficool, well said. Imagine a Chrysler Turbine on a used car lot!

There is actually an alternate history to the final destination of this car. The car that was cut up for the customs guy was not really this car. Not that hard to pull a switch as the customs man was not a racing fan and couldn't tell one car from another.

The real car was 'loaned' to a wealthy Shelby friend who paid to have it shipped to Switzerland where it was used in several hill climb races. The idea was to resurrect it for Le Mans but it was destroyed in a crash.

If you don't like the story above, I have another one. Car was not actually destroyed but surreptitiously shipped back to England, repainted and given to Alan Mann to race. Mann was signed up to race it at the 1966 Targa Florio but fresh from their victories at Daytona and Sebring and with Le Mans on the horizon Ford did not want the 'invincible' MKII's reputation to take a hit on a race course that it was not that well suited for. For that reason the entry was pulled. The car was to be shipped to Le Mans but it's carrier was involved in an accident and caught fire. The car and carrier were both destroyed.

@franklemire Ooookay! These stories just get better and better, and as the principals continue to die off remaining mum on the subject, They'll all become part of automotive lore.

@rich-sufficool Just trying to either set the record straight of come up with a more reasonable explanation for why I would buy duplicates of the same model, including one that never existed painted the color yellow.