Cars
Broken Dreams: Ford GT40 Roadster. Too Beautiful to Race
The Ford GT40 Roadster was a rare Le Mans hopeful that transitioned to a coupe-focused legacy. Only five were made, with varied fates. One raced at Le Mans and Targa Florio in 1965, and two survive today as coveted collectibles worth millions.
Normally, in the development of a high-performance car, designers build a chassis as rigid as possible, which usually results in coupes. This was not the case for Ford’s GT40 project, designed to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1965, at Ford Advanced Vehicles in England, 12 GT40 chassis were prepared, five of which were open-top versions with technical specifications guaranteeing sufficient rigidity despite lacking a roof.
This showcases the broad spectrum of vehicles Ford initially developed for the Le Mans challenge. One of these roadsters, #GT/111, competed in both the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans and Targa Florio but faced misfortune: a gearbox failure at Le Mans while running third overall, and a crash at the Targa Florio.
