The Ford GT40 is a high performance American-British racing car,
built and designed in England (MkI, MkII, and MkIII) and in the United
States (MkIV) respectively, and powered by a series of American-built
engines, which won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four consecutive times, from 1966 to 1969 (1966 being the Mk II, 1967 the Mk IV, and 1968-1969 the oldest chassis design, the Mk I). In 1966, at the attendance of Henry Ford II himself in Le Mans, the MkII GT40 provided Ford with the first overall Le Mans victory for an American manufacturer and the first victory for an American manufacturer at a major European race since Jimmy Murphy´s triumph with Duesenberg at the 1921 French Grand Prix.
In 1967 the Mk IV GT40 would become the only entry designed and
produced entirely within the United States to claim an overall win at Le
Mans.
The GT40 was originally produced to win long-distance sports car races against Ferrari (who won at Le Mans
six times in a row from 1960 to 1965). Chassis # P-1075, which won in
1968 and 1969, is the first car in Le Mans history to win the race more
than once with the same chassis, using a Ford engine originally of
4.7-litre displacement capacity, enlarged to 4.9-litre (also known as a
5.0) with special alloy Gurney-Weslake cylinder head.
