One to Buy: 1 of 5 ex-Ford France 1965 Ford GT40 Roadster
During the GT40’s early life as a true Prototype-class racing car, Ford built a small batch of Roadsters for use in some of 1965’s biggest races. One such example was chassis GT109 which is heading to auction at Mecum’s Indy sale on May 17th.
Like most of the Roadsters, GT109 had only the briefest racing career: its sole competitive outing came at the 1965 Le Mans 24 Hours as a quasi works Ford France entry for Guy Ligier and Maurice Trintignant. Ford France were already somewhat familiar with the GT40 having campaigned Guy Ligier’s early ‘production’ example (P/1003) at the Nurburgring 1000km four weeks earlier.
GT109 appeared in the Ford France colours of white with blue and red stripes. It lined up 13th on the grid (slowest of the six Fords entered) and the race got off to a poor start as Trintignant was in the pits after just two laps with a misfire.
Having dropped well down the order, GT109 became the first Ford retirement when, after eleven laps, it was pushed away with a broken gearbox.
None of the six-car GT40 attack made it to the finish, but the model (especially in new 7-litre trim) had proved devastatingly fast. Retrospectively, Ford’s painful lessons at Le Mans in 1964 and 1965 would be forgotton as the GT40 went on to clinch four successive 24 Hour wins at la Sarthe between 1966 and 1969.
Unfortunately, the Roadster body style was never offered to customers which makes GT109 an exceptionally rare proposition. In recent times, the car has undergone an exacting restoration and now looks to be in splendid condition throughout.
Reprinted below is Mecum’s description:
VIN GT109
The Only Ford GT Roadster to Race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans
The only Ford GT Roadster to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans
The second of only five GT Roadsters built, 1 of 2 surviving examples today
Prepared for Le Mans by Shelby American and painted in Ford of France livery
Competed at Le Mans in 1965 with French drivers Maurice Trintignant and Guy Ligier
Shipped back to Shelby American with a work order to "rebuild after Le Mans"
Sent to Kar Kraft to be used as a development vehicle for the J-Car
Acquired from Ford in 1968 by Dean Jeffries, who kept the car until 2013
Professional restoration by Harley Cluxton III to concours standards in the original Le Mans livery
2nd in Class at the 2016 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, finished 2nd to the 1966 Le Mans Winner
Best of Show at the 2016 Milwaukee Concours d'Elegance
Currently equipped with the HiPo 289 gifted from Shelby to Jeffries which has been rebuilt
Ownership history includes: Ford/Shelby, Dean Jeffries and Dana Mecum
This 1965 Ford GT Competition Prototype Roadster GT/109 was driven in the 24 Hours of Le Mans by legendary French racers Maurice Trintignant and Guy Ligier in 1965. The only Ford GT Roadster to ever compete at Le Mans, GT/109 is a forerunner to all of the glory that Ford garnered in its historic run to four consecutive overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 1966 through 1969.
Completed in March 1965 by Ford Advanced Vehicles (FAV) in Slough, England, GT/109 is one of 12 prototypes built by Ford between January 1964 and April 1965. Only five of the GT Competition Prototypes were Roadsters, with just GT/109 and sister car GT/108 surviving today.
The Ford GT prototype program debuted in April 1964 at the Le Mans time trials as one of the most technically advanced race cars ever. It was also beautiful and provably capable of incredible speeds. Highly respected former Aston Martin team leader John Wyer was hired to manage the effort, but the cars debuted with inadequate testing and development.
With the GT Prototype program not producing the expected results—the first two cars (GT/101 and GT/102) had been destroyed in crashes at Le Mans and then Monza, not to mention the team had failed to finish a race during the season—Ford Vice President and General Manager Lee Iacocca decided to make some changes.
In December 1964, two GT Competition Prototype Coupes, GT/103 and GT/104, were sent to Shelby American in Los Angeles, where they were placed in the care of Shelby Chief Engineer Phil Remington and his very capable crew to be readied for the February 1965 season opener at the Daytona Continental. An intense period of testing and development produced the GT’s first race victory—and its first finish—when Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby co-drove GT/103 to the overall win.
If the Miles and Ruby win at Daytona proved the GT’s vast potential, it also reaffirmed Shelby American’s already renowned reputation for thorough development and preparation, both of which came into play when Ford ordered the first two GT Prototype Competition Roadsters for testing and evaluation, numbered GT/108 and GT/109.
The latter arrived at FAV in bare-chassis form in October 1964; documentation indicates GT/109 was a special-order chassis, as stated by the following notation in the FAV status report of October 1, 1964: “Dearborn Experimental Car with 3” longer chassis-Not Now Required.” In addition, while GT/108 and GT/109 appeared virtually identical, closer study revealed GT/109’s removable rollover section.
The Ford Total Performance Program’s dual purpose was fully realized when GT/108 was utilized for road use and GT/109 was supplied to Shelby in March 1965 to prepare for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A Shelby American work order was opened on May 19 to “perform necessary repairs and mods to GT/109.” Completed on June 9, GT/109 shared many of the modifications performed to the Daytona-winning Miles and Ruby car, including Halibrand magnesium wheels in place of the factory-installed Borrani wire wheels, front corner air dams and a Cobra-spec 289 CI engine connected to a ZF 5-speed gearbox.
Additional race modifications to GT/109 included the first use of side-mounted engine oil radiators, the addition of rear-body exit vents to relieve pressure that tended to build up under the rear-wheel arches, a higher rear-end spoiler to balance out the front splitters, center-section electric fuel pumps, a water radiator expansion tank and four quick-release removable Dzus fasteners on the center-section rollover cover that gave easy access to ancillary engine systems. The removable rollover section and other changes meant that GT/109 was race ready without the need for further modifications.
Preparations for the 1965 Le Mans race were pressing for the Ford team, which was directly supervised by Carroll Shelby. Upon arrival in France, the car’s number was changed from 9 to 15, and testing was performed by André Simon and Jo Schlesser. Shelby American filled its two Ford GT Le Mans entries with the 427 Prototypes GT/106 and GT/107.
A total of six GTs made the trip, so Ford arranged to take over four additional entries from Rob Walker (P/1004 in Scottish livery), Scuderia Filipinetti (P/1005 in Swiss livery), Ford Advanced Vehicles (P/1006 in British livery) and Ford of France (GT/109). Although GT/109 was managed by Shelby American, the car was finished in Ford of France’s racing livery of white paint with a dark blue center stripe bordered in red. Weighing in at 2,350 pounds, the Roadster was the lightest of all six Ford GTs entered at Le Mans in 1965.
GT/109 was driven in the 24 Hours of Le Mans by French racing stars Maurice Trintignant, who drove a Daytona Coupe for Shelby in the 1964 Tour de France, and Guy Ligier, who went on to race in Formula 1 for two years before becoming a long-time F1 constructor. GT/109 started the race with Trintignant behind the wheel, however, it dropped out on the 11th lap with a failed gearbox.
Interestingly, when another Ford GT (P/1005) lost a door during the Le Mans race, GT/109’s driver door was borrowed for a couple hours until the car retired from the race as well. Although Ford doubled its number of entries at Le Mans from three in 1964 to six in 1965, the results were the same; none of the Ford GTs finished the 24-hour race.
Following Le Mans, GT/109 was returned for service with Shelby American, and a work order dated June 28 was opened to “rebuild after Le Mans GT/109.” GT/109 was then sent to Kar Kraft to be used as a development vehicle for the J-Car project, Kar Kraft’s automatic transmission, Ford’s Weber-carbureted 4-cam Indianapolis engine, brake systems and various other experimental parts and components.
GT/109 was later returned to Shelby American, where it was rebuilt and then stored for approximately two years before being transferred to a Ford warehouse in Detroit.
The car was discovered there in 1968 by Hollywood stuntman and California automotive customizer Dean Jeffries while visiting Detroit with A.J. Foyt to meet with Ford Racing Director Jacque Passino. Seeing the car in the warehouse, Jeffries asked to purchase it, to which Passino replied, “No problem, you can have it. We’re done with the GT Roadster program.” Jeffries originally planned to sell the car to Davy Jones of The Monkees, but Jones never followed through on the deal and Jeffries kept GT/109.
By the 1960s, Jeffries had built a great reputation in the young “go-fast” scene in Southern California. Jeffries was the man who painted “Little Bastard” on James Dean’s 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, and he had built a strong relationship with Carroll Shelby working on the Cobra project.
When Carroll Shelby built his first Cobra prototype, it was Jeffries who painted the car the night before it was presented to Ford executives for approval. After receiving a thumbs up from Ford, Carroll Shelby created the illusion that production was underway by asking Jeffries to repaint CSX2000 multiple times for the different magazine road tests so the media would think Carroll Shelby had built more than one Cobra.
With a booming movie car customization business, Jeffries kept his nose to the grindstone. After purchasing GT/109 in 1968, Jeffries had very little time for his own projects, and the GT Roadster remained in the corner of his shop for 30 years. After Jeffries had a stroke in the 1990s, the realization was made that life is short and he needed to focus on the GT/109 project.
In a November 1997 “Autoweek” interview, Jeffries recounted his Ford GT discovery, describing GT/109 when he found it. Jeffries set about a prolonged restoration, briefly installing a 4-cam Indy engine before changing course and using a Shelby-built 289 CI racing engine given to him by Carroll Shelby, who stated, “We used this engine at Le Mans in #109.” Later, Jeffries displayed GT/109 during Ford's “100 Years of Racing History Celebration” at Laguna Seca for the Monterey Historics in August 2003.
When Dana Mecum purchased GT/109 from Jeffries’ son in 2013, he commissioned Harley Cluxton III of GTC Mirage Racing to complete a concours-quality restoration to its original Le Mans configuration as it was during its finest hour. Cluxton's efforts to locate the unobtainable, 1964-65 era Ford GT prototype components to complete the restoration cannot be understated. These critical early-production Ford GT parts made it possible to preserve GT/109's former glory as presented on the starting grid of Le Mans.
The original Shelby-supplied HiPo 289 CI racing engine was rebuilt, dyno tested and installed by Brian Duffee. The engine sports a Ford/Shelby experimental intake manifold and 4x48 IDA “Made in Italy” Weber carburetors, and it’s fitted with the Shelby-supplied “Bundle of Snakes” exhaust utilized on GT/109 during testing.
Other period-correct components on this GT Competition Prototype Roadster include a rebuilt 1965 ZF 5DS-25/0 transaxle, SEV Marchal Headlights over Cobra Daytona Coupe Cessna landing/driving lights and Halibrand magnesium wheels mounted with 1965 NOS stickered 550/15 and 700/15 Goodyear Sport Car Special Blue Streak tires. Interestingly, this car features an extremely rare NOS Ford GT Trico wiper blade and also features Carroll Shelby’s signature ”On/Off” brake-light switch that is original to GT/109.
In 2016, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance hosted a special class celebrating the 50th anniversary of Ford’s Le Mans victory. GT/109 won Second in Class, runner-up to the 1966 Le Mans winner that was driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon. One week later, GT/109 won Best of Show at the Milwaukee Concours d’Elegance. In 2023, GT/109 was invited to the American Speed Festival at M1 Concourse to serve as Honorary Marshal for the Ford GT parade laps. Most recently, at The Amelia Concours d’Elegance in 2024, GT/109 won its class and took second in Concours de Sport, runner-up to the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO that won the 1964 Tour de France.
One of two surviving Ford GT Competition Prototype Roadsters and the only example to race at Le Mans, GT/109's key accomplishments were the blueprint for Ford's domination of Ferrari on the world's stage, which established Ford as the first international racing dynasty of any American manufacturer. The Ford GT (pre-GT40) was not only Ford’s first international sports car, but it is also considered by most to be the world’s first supercar: the 1965 Ford GT Competition Prototype Roadster.
