VIN: the works Shelby / Holman Moody Ford GT40 Mk2 chassis P/1047

Feb 16

Feb 16 VIN: the works Shelby / Holman Moody Ford GT40 Mk2 chassis P/1047

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History of chassis P/1047

Chassis P/1047 was one of twelve GT40s raced in seven-litre Mk2 trim during the 1966 season. It made its competition debut as part of an eight-strong Mk2 contingent that attended the Le Mans 24 Hours over the weekend of June 18th and 19th.

The handsome red and white-striped Shelby American-run machine was allocated to Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant. Gurney qualified on pole as the Mk2s locked out the top four grid positions.

Having been beaten away from the line by the Alan Mann Mk2 of Graham Hill, Gurney swept into the lead on lap five and had soon built a ten second advantage over the chasing pack. P/1047 led for the opening few hours and by 2am on Sunday morning (when all the Ferrari prototypes were out) it was lying second behind the sister car of Ken Miles / Denny Hulme.

Unfortunately, Gurney / Grant were forced to retire during the 18th hour when P/1047 arrived in the pits with steam and smoke pouring from the engine. The radiator failed and P/1047 was pushed away.

Nevertheless, Ford managed to secure a historic 1-2-3 finish at Le Mans with the Mk2 of Bruce McLaren / Chris Amon leading home the sister cars of Ken Miles / Denny Hulme and Ronnie Bucknum / Dick Hutcherson.

The Mk2 GT40s were next wheeled out for the Daytona 24 Hours on February 4th and 5th 1967. Six of the 427 cubic-inch cars were on hand to include P/1047 which Dan Gurney shared with AJ Foyt.

The still red and white GT40 started from pole for its second race in succession and was lying fourth at the one hour mark. However, only one of the Mk2s finished as Ferraris went on to fill out the podium and the GT40s nearly all fell by the wayside. A broken con rod put Foyt / Gurney out at around two thirds distance (464 laps).

Ford gave the new Mk4 GT40 a race-winning debut at Sebring four weeks later along with an updated B-spec. version of the Mk2 which placed second.

P/1047 was subsequently uprated to B trim for its final competitive appearance, the 1967 Le Mans 24 Hours, where a trio of the updated Mk2Bs played a support role to a squad of four Mk4 variants.

Now painted gold with white stripes and run by Holman Moody, P/1047 was allocated to Frank Gardner and Roger McCluskey who qualified sixth. Gardner ran second to team-mate Paul Hawkins in the opening laps, but P/1047 subsequently began to drop down the field as the faster Mk4 variants took control of the race.

Unfortunately, at 4am on Sunday morning the Ford challenge was dealt a serious blow when Mario Andretti put his Mk4 into the wall at the Esses shortly after he had left the pits. Two of the Mk2Bs were running in close proximity and crashed trying to avoid the melee; Schlesser in the Ford France entry (P/1015) and McCluskey in P/1047 took avoiding action and hit the wall separately. All three cars retired on the spot.

P/1047 was sent back to Holman Moody. Meanwhile, for carnet reasons the sole Mk2B that had not been caught up in Andretti’s accident at Le Mans (chassis P/1031) was fitted with P1047’s VIN plate and did four more European races between June and October of 1967 (all as a Ford France entry).

Following its accident at Le Mans, P/1047 was restored by Holman Moody who retained it until 1976.

At this point the car was sold to Holman Moody’s own Freddy McCall and soon afterwards departed for a Japanese collection.

It returned to the USA in the early 2000s.

Notable History

Shelby American Inc.

Red with white stripes

19/06/1966 WSC Le Mans 24 Hours (D. Gurney / J. Grant) DNF (#3)

05/02/1967 WSC Daytona 24 Hours (A.J. Foyt / D. Gurney) DNF (#3)

Uprated to Mk2B specification

Holman Moody

Gold with white stripes

11/06/1967 WSC Le Mans 24 Hours (F. Gardner / R. McCluskey) DNF (#5)