In 1963, Enzo Ferrari sent a letter to Ford Motor Company with an offer: he would sell his company to Ford, provided he could remain in control of its racing operation. Henry Ford II was happy to enter into negotiations, feeling the purchase would bring prestige to his company. The two companies came to a preliminary agreement and the contract was written up.

According to A. J. Baime, in his book Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans, Ford’s number two man, Don Frey, met with Enzo Ferrari at his office in Maranello, Italy on May 21. When Ferrari read the final document and realized he would have to request approval for any increases in his racing operation budget, he exclaimed, “My rights, my integrity, my very being as a manufacturer, as an entrepreneur, cannot work under the enormous machine, the suffocating bureaucracy of the Ford Motor Company!”

Henry Ford II, upon hearing the deal had fallen through, said, “All right. We’ll beat his ass. We’re going to race him!” Within a week he had a proposal in hand to set up a new special-vehicles department, one that would design and build the fastest, most reliable and technologically advanced racing car in history. Soon after, with assistance from British racecar builder Lola, Ford constructed the GT40 (so named for its 40-inch height).

Henry Ford II aimed to beat Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world’s oldest endurance sports car race. Ferrari had won there seven times, in 1949 and in various years through 1963. In 1964, Ferrari won again; two GT40s crashed during testing and the three that raced were unable to finish. Ferrari continued its winning streak in 1965 while six GT40s broke down and were unable to complete the race.

In 1966, Ford’s efforts finally paid off: GT40s took the top three positions and this was no fluke. A GT40 finished first in ’67, ’68, and 69, permanently etching its place in automotive racing history.

In the summer of 2010, the Kirkland, Washington Concours d’Elegance featured Ford racecars including classes for Shelby Mustang GT350s, Shelby Cobras, Ford GTs and Ford GT40s. One of the standout entries was Greg Whitten’s 1966 Ford GT40 Mark I.

“I bought this car in 1992 from Bob Ash, who did the restoration,” explained Whitten. “The car was restored between 1987 and 1990 and as you can see, it is still very clean and very original. We’ve done almost nothing to it. I think we replaced the ignition wires and the spark plugs and changed the oil filter, but the rest of it is all original.”

“This GT40 has a 289 cubic-inch engine with four dual-barrel Weber carburetors,” continued Whitten. “It has a crossover exhaust so it doesn’t sound like a normal Ford V8--it has a much different sound. The engine has a fairly high compression ratio so it probably develops 425-450 horsepower. It comes on strong up to about 3000 rpm and then, as they say, all hell breaks loose. It’s a very quick car.”

Although the GT40s were capable of speeds over 200 mph, Whitten hasn’t taken this one much over 140 mph.

“In 1994, I took it to the fortieth GT40 Reunion at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin,” said Whitten. “We had about 40 cars there and we were able to take them onto the racetrack a number of times. It was part of the Chicago Historic Races so that was a lot of fun. But around the racetrack I eventually would run out of brakes--they’d get too hot. They are fairly early Dunlop disc brakes and there’s just not enough venting and ducting to cool them.”

For now, Whitten plans to keep the car as it is.

“We could improve the brakes, but car’s so original I’d kind of hate to modify it in the ways I’d need to for vintage racing.”