Recently Superformance was commissioned by an overseas client to build two continuation GT40’s that replicated a MKII - P/1046 and a MKI -P/ 103 which were GT40’s that raced in the 1960’s.
GT40 P/103
In 1964, Ford GT40’s stole the hearts of passionate car lovers and industry leaders with its breathtaking exterior. In an effort to win races, Ford sent some new prototypes to Carroll Shelby who installed the Ford 289 engine that was track proven. Shelby also added larger and lighter wheels which improved traction and increased speed. These major changes coupled with a few minor ones led to a victory for the GT40 P/103 at the Daytona Beach opening race. This GT40, driven Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby, was not only the first to win, but the first to finish at all.
In 1970, this GT40 was retired by William Wonder who purchased the car in 1966. In between that time Mr. Wonder had updated the car with MKIII brakes, Koni shocks, and Halibrand wheels. He independently entered the GT40 into a few races.
Sometime later, work began to return the car to its 1965, triumphant state. The paint is still mostly original and some of the components still sport their #103 label. The GT40 P/103 now boasts a four-cam 355-ci Indy engine that it would have had in 1966/67, but looks much different than it would have at that time. In 2005 this GT40 was purchased for $2.5 million.
Unlike the original, our customer paid about $180K. P/2010 is painted Guardsman Blue with Wimbledon White stripes…just like car P/103. This chassis has roundels with lights that shine onto the number 73. It is built in Right Hand drive and has the original style shifter mounted on the right sill.
GT40 P/1046
The second chassis we were commissioned to build was a continuation built to look like GT40 P/1046 which was a Carroll Shelby team car.
GT40 P/1046 raced in and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 while driven by Bruce McLaren andChris Amon. This car was later sent to Holman Moody and modified to MKII B specs to include new front and rear clip, a roll cage, a new dash and relocating the dry sump oil tank from front to rear of the car. The car then raced at Daytona in 1967 but did not finish due to transmission failure. The GT40 was sold three times before being purchased by a gentleman who shipped it to Belgium, who later sold the car to George Stauffer who returned P1046 to the United States.
The paint work on the New GT40 number P/2009 was specially prepared with the original Shelby team car in mind and included roundels with the racing numbers painted and roundel lights placed in the same position as the original. Just like P/1046 the new car was built in right hand drive with a right hand side, sill shifter. The end result was an amazing combination of the past and present recapturing history but with modern safety upgrades.