How much would you pay for a mint-condition Ford? One lucky (or unlucky) guy in Houston, Texas paid an eye-watering $7,000,000 for a historic Ford GT40 prototype at last weekend’s Mecum Auction.
That’s quite a lot of cash to drop on an old Ford, except this isn’t just any old car. Henry Ford II tired to buy-out Ferrari, but when plans fell through in the last minute with Enzo Ferrari himself, Ford decided he would beat the Italians at their own game – the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This particular GT40 prototype finished third at the Daytona Continental in 1965 and paved the way for Ford’s assault on Le Mans, which secured four wins from 1966 to 1969.
The #72 car features a lightweight steel chassis, 4.7L Shelby-tuned V8, four Weber carburetors, and a Colotti four-speed transmission. Talk about driving a piece of history.
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[via Autoblog]
