Determined to beat the Enzo Ferrari at his own game after its offer to buy the company was rejected in 1964, Ford turned to English racing car firm Lola to build it a mid engined GT car using a Ford V8 engine. Lola founder Eric Broadley wasn’t giving an entirely free hand, however; Ford wanted the GT 40 (so called because it was just 40 in. high) to be a road sports car. Detroit bosses also decreed that it had to have a cheaper mid steel monocoque to a certain extent than the lighter aluminum tub preferred by Broadley. At first, results on the track were patchy, but the turning point came in 1966 with wins in the 24 hour Daytona and Le Mans races, and also in the tough Spa 1000 km race. From a publicity point of view, Le Mans was most important to Ford as its new total performance image, and GT 40s took for straight wins, from 1966 to 1969. Ferrari was nowhere to be seen, and Ford had proved its point. Ford American withdrew from racing after 1967 but in 1968 JW Automotive, a tiny British firm licensed by Ford to make and maintain GT 40s, took the World Manufactures, Championship title away from Porsche with a privately entered GT 40, another snub towards the famous marque.
The V8 engine was extremely powerful with 4727 cc. Ford GT 40 was equipped with front and rear disc brakes, five speed manual gearbox with independent suspension all round the body of the car. The maximum speed was 164 mph (262 km/h), it reached 0-60 mph (96 km.h) in just 6 seconds. The GT 40 MK II was solely for road use. It cost $6540 and had detuned (330 bhp) engine, road exhaust system and comfortable trim. A total of 107 GT 40s were produced, of which 31 were road cars.
