Remember When Ford Had Difficulty Finding Buyers for its GT40 Road Car?

Story by Kurt Ernst, photos by Brian Henniker, courtesy Gooding & Company.

Ford’s GT40 enjoyed great success as a racing car, but as a passenger car, a role required for FIA homologation, it was a failure. In order to move the 20 or so cars built for homologation purposes, Ford promoted the car with a dealer roadshow and deep discounting, eventually clearing its inventory with very little (or perhaps no) profit. On March 11, a 1966 Ford GT40 Mk I, once part of the automaker’s Promotion and Disposal Program, will cross the auction block in Amelia Island, where (this time) no additional fanfare will be needed to market the car.

Related: The Henry Ford, on conserving the 1967 Le Mans-winning Ford GT40 Mk IV

The Ford GT40, in its various forms, captured overall victory at Le Mans from 1966 through 1969, and won scores of other races in Europe and the United States. Race cars, however, have radically different design criteria than street cars, and in this regard the GT40 was a victim of its own success. The car’s 40-inch height may have lowered the center of gravity and reduced drag, but it also resulted in the car being nearly invisible on public roads. It also made entry and exit challenging for those dressed in street clothes, and the World Registry of Cobras & GT40s, 4th Edition, describes entry and egress from the car as a “spectator event.”

Related: The Ford GT40 Mk II that shouldn’t have won Le Mans

The challenges of owning a GT40 as a daily driver didn’t end there, either. The doors needed a wide opening to negotiate across the wide sill, requiring owners to park on the outskirts of lots and hope for the best. Rear-side visibility was limited by enormous C-pillars, ventilation was provided only by small rectangular windows cut within the door glass (which also made paying tolls a challenge), and the car came exclusively in right-hand drive. While customers could configure the GT40 with a number of options (including, thankfully, air conditioning), the starting price for a production road coupe was said to be in the neighborhood of $16,000.

“Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” didn’t necessarily apply to the GT40, either, as many Americans had never heard of the storied European endurance race on the Circuit de la Sarthe. Had the GT40 cleaned up at Indianapolis or Talladega instead of Le Mans, perhaps Ford dealers may have had more of a marketing edge with the cars. Instead, by early 1967, Ford’s accountants were growing concerned with the significant amount of money tied up in homologation GT40s, all of which were the Mk I variant.

Related: Why has Ford abandoned the GT40 name?

Ford’s answer was the Mk I Promotion and Disposal Program, which kicked off in February of 1967. Dividing the country into seven regions, Ford assigned a GT40 Mk I to each area, accompanied by a Ford-branded tow vehicle (usually a pickup or Ranchero). The GT40 would spend time in the showroom of regional dealers, but the car would also be sent to high-profile area outings, like parades or significant sporting events.

The “disposal” part of the program came in pricing, and dealers were advised to drop the sticker price of participating cars from $16,000 to $12,000, less if the car had been previously used. While records are spotty, most cars sold through the disposal program changed hands at prices between $8,000 (in 1967, enough to buy a pair of 390 V-8 Mustang fastbacks) and $11,800 (enough to buy two L-88 equipped Corvettes), but one reportedly sold for just $3,000 to a friend of Ford Racing head Jacque Passino.