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Rare footage of the original 1964 Ford GT


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#1 Cheater

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 04:54 AM

It's easy to ignore the Ford promotional narration track to see this much footage of the first iteration of the Ford GT in 1964. The car was modified so quickly that videos showing the car as originally built are not easy to find.

 


Gregory Wells

Never forget that first place goes to the racer with the MOST laps, not the racer with the FASTEST lap





#2 ajd350

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 07:19 AM

Awewsome. Hard to believe it was 50 years ago...


Al DeYoung

#3 robbovius

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 08:17 AM

Ha! I like how when the voice-over announcer says, "Maserati..." the film shows a Cobra Daytona Coupe driving away from the camera.



#4 Cheater

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 09:15 AM

Almost mentioned the Cobra Coupe when I made the original post. I spotted the car at least once or twice more, I think.


Gregory Wells

Never forget that first place goes to the racer with the MOST laps, not the racer with the FASTEST lap


#5 Dave Fiedler

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 09:45 AM

Thanks, Greg, great stuff!


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#6 Tex

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 09:49 AM

Thanks, Greg!


Richard L. Hofer

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#7 Cheater

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 10:05 AM

Guys, thanks for the responses.

 

I sometimes think it's a little off-topic for me to be posting these vids on a slot car forum, but since I like 'em so much, I thought most of the members would as well.

 

Your comments suggests I shouldn't stop posting them and I don't plan to.


Gregory Wells

Never forget that first place goes to the racer with the MOST laps, not the racer with the FASTEST lap


#8 Tex

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 11:03 AM

The fact that the forum is "1/1 Racing & Rides" says it all.

 

Keep 'em coming!


Richard L. Hofer

Remember, two wrongs don't make a right... but three lefts do! Only you're a block over and a block behind.

#9 TSR

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 11:34 AM

Greg,

 

To be precise, this was not the "first" Ford GT but an evolution that began well before the '64 LeMans race, with appendages added all over since the car as originally tested was a nice aircraft, a different gearbox, engine type, brakes... I attended the LeMans race in '64 (my dad was a guest of Shell Oil and we had seats right above the Ferrari pits) and was quite happy to see the Ford cars and they were fast, that is until they began disintegrating. The Cobra soldiered on however and soundly beat all comers to win the GT class, with Big Dan and Bob Bondurant sharing the drive.

 

The footage however is great but quite full of factual errors, but with the sound off, fabulous.

 

The Ferrari 275P were at the time, such refined machines, it would have been nearly impossible for one of the Fords to beat them that year, especially with the Brits in charge of their engineering at FVO!

 

In fact they only became reliable once in American hands especially with Phil Remington and Ken Miles telling Shelby what to do.


Philippe de Lespinay


#10 Cheater

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 11:52 AM

Yeah, most of the commentators on these early racing videos didn't have a clue... that's pretty much a given.

 

My designation of the Ford GT shown as "first" was really not meant as rigorously as you're interpreting it, but rather as the first general body style or design, meaning the one that carried the dark blue hood paint, and as compared to the later cars like the Mark IIs.


Gregory Wells

Never forget that first place goes to the racer with the MOST laps, not the racer with the FASTEST lap


#11 TSR

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 11:56 AM

Yep, and they will soon get better...


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#12 ajd350

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 06:42 PM

Dokk, It is quite literally correct that the #11 car in the video is not the first Ford GT. That car (P101) was destroyed 8 laps into a LeMans  testing session. It was, however P103, the third chassis built in the first batch. Same chassis with early attempts to develop the car. We only have to wonder how it would have played out if, as you said, Shelby and his talented crew had not gotten involved. This same car was to score the GTs first victory (and race finish) at Daytona in '65.

 

It must have been quite exciting to have been there....


Al DeYoung

#13 TSR

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 07:02 PM

Al, correct. When the two cars arrived from England at Shelby's plant next to LAX, it was in such horrid shape according to the people who were there, that they nearly abandoned it and were seeking a new example to work from. Since none was yet available and Daytona loomed near, under phil Remington's competent hands-on management, the two chassis were rebuilt from the ground up, then tested at Riverside where they were found to be scary to drive. This is when the wire wheels were deleted and replaced by Halibrand mag wheels, the Dunlop replaced by Goodyear rubber and the aero appendages modified to keep the car from flying.

The biggest issue with those cars was always the transmission, that kept breaking. It needed an LG500, but Hewland was not yet in the cards and all you had then was Colotti and ZF... and each Colotti transmission was handbuilt, so everything was different from tranny to tranny! And the ZFs were a bit overwhelmed by the torque from the 289s.

In 1965 when the MK II came on line, the 7-liter engines just ATE the beefier transmissions too, so it took a while to get a gearbox that lasted, and that issue was never fully resolved satisfactorily. In 1967 at Daytona, all the MK IIs had bad input shafts, improperly heat-treated, and the Ford guys simply ran out of transmissions, allowing Ferrari a sweet 1-2-3 without much of a fight... :)

Of course the MK 4 did not have such problems and was bulletproof.

Philippe de Lespinay


#14 ajd350

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Posted 29 March 2014 - 10:28 AM

In retrospect it is amazing that any of those cars would have, at some point, been considered nearly valueless. Such is the attitude towards last season's race cars. 

 

I have to wonder why Ford took so long to finally decide to solve the transaxle problems in-house. Part of the learning process, I guess. My understanding on the MK II deal was that, if not for the bad input shaft batch, the transaxles were otherwise fine. One small error brings the whole deal down. 


Al DeYoung





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