Article: Perks Of The Job

[Jac Mac]

Steve,
That is a really neat set of photos.
I work at Moss Motors which is less than a mile from the site of that first legal drag race at the Goleta airstrip.

BTW. Were all original GT 40s built as RHD ?


(Ken Hyndman )

Yes, due to the 'tunnel' for coolant tubes being offset ~3" from centerline and the drivers side seat, pedal area and front bulkhead using that extra space it would have reqd a considerable amount of mirror engineering of the mono chassis to make them LHD.
That coolant tunnel is an integral part of the chassis, however some later cars and rebuilt race cars had parts of that tunnel removed for a cross feed tube for the fuel tanks, IIRC some MKII FE powered cars had the coolant tubes fitted against the LH sponson, but that might have been more for removing the heat away from driver for Le Mans etc.

[khyndart in CA]

Thanks for that interesting explanation Jac Mac.

Ken H

[Steve Holmes]

I didn't realize it at the time I wrote this story, but the car featured here, that Fran Hernandez took home the day these photos were taken, was actually GT40 P/1028, the very first GT40 road car delivered to the US. Ford used it for promotional purposes, taking it to racing and other events etc. It was originally painted silver. The colour scheme featured in the photos above were following a repaint.

In 1980, it was painted in Gulf colours as part of a Gulf advertising campaign. P/1028 was the subject of an episode on the reality tv show Legendary Motorcar. Legendary Motorcar is the Peter Klutt owned company that buys/sells/restored important high-end, vehicles. Legendary restored the GT40 back as it left the factory.

More detail on P/1028 here: https://www.mecum.com/lots/CA0816-244573/1966-ford-gt40-mki/