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Ford GT40 – P/1032

The racing factory

We have already told the story of the Ford GT40 in great detail, here: «Zusammenhänge» (sorry, just in German). But of course there are always side roads branching off from every story, and one of these for the GT40 is called Holman-Moody. To do this, we first go back to the 1950s, where we meet John Holman, a talented mechanic with great organisational skills, who was hired by the Ford Motor Company in 1956 to head the racing department in Charlotte. And we meet Ralph Moody, a talented race driver whose career came to an abrupt end in 1957 when Ford (along with the other major American manufacturers) decided to no longer support racing as a factory. This decision made Holman unemployed, the two men joined forces, bought Ford’s racing factory in Charlotte and set up their own business. Holman-Moody was one of the racing shops that sold complete vehicles to ambitious private drivers – and quickly built up a good reputation, with Holman-Moody-Ford winning many stock and NASCAR races.

But what do they have to do with the Ford GT40? Ford’s first attempt to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1964 went very badly wrong. So Fred Beebe, the man at Ford, hired Carroll Shelby. But in 1965, Ford experienced a complete disaster at Le Mans as well, with all six GT40s retiring. Beebe was really angry, also with Shelby – and now brought Holman-Moody on board. This was also necessary because at Le Mans 1965 it became clear that the future of the GT40 was in the mighty 7-litre engines and that the vehicles had to be adapted to this engine. And there was a lot to do: the Mk II was developed with new aerodynamics, a new front, and better brakes. This work was done at Shelby American, but Holman-Moody provided the mechanics in charge.

Ford also allowed Holman-Moody to enter the new Ford GT40 Mk II in its own racing team. And so we come to this particular example, P/1032, delivered to Shelby American on 5 November 1965. The car was given the necessary modifications, painted white with a black front end, and entered in the 12 Hours of Sebring with starting number 3. There, Hansgen/Donohue took second place behind Miles/Ruby (in the GT40 X-1 Roadster). The vehicle was then shipped to France for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Walter Hansgen was killed in a training accident there, and Mark Donohue was given a new co-driver, Australian Paul Hawkins, for P/1032. However, the race did not go well for this Holman-Moody-registered car, and a long pit stop followed after the first lap. Then the GT40 lost its engine cover, had transmission problems and had to give up after four hours, with Donohue/Watkins only managing 12 laps. Ford didn’t care, three GT40s made the podium, and Henry Ford had his victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In 1966/67, P/1032 was then condemned to being an exhibition vehicle. It had competed at Le Mans with a wild paint job, brown with green DayGlo decals (which glowed at night so the vehicles could be distinguished), after which it was returned to its original black and white colours. The Ford was on display at the Paris Motor Show in October 1966 and at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1967, and probably also at Monza later on. On 29 March 1968, P/1032 was handed over to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, albeit without a drive system. It was only during a restoration that lasted from 2006 to 2011 that the GT40 was given a 427ci engine again and made roadworthy. RM Sotheby’s is auctioning this GT40 Mk II, one of only eight examples, in Miami at the end of February, with an estimated price of 8 to 11 million dollars.

We have more fine sports cars in our archive, a collection of Ford GT40s can be found here.

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