P102

Markus

SPRF40
Lifetime Supporter
Here is a German article about P102,

Ford GT40: Nummer zwei lebt - SPIEGEL ONLINE

here comes the google translation
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https://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Fauto%2Ffahrkultur%2Fford-gt40-nummer-zwei-lebt-a-1036793.html



The article is saying that they found P102.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Is that true??<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Markus<o:p></o:p>
 
The Google translation makes it an interesting read:
Adminisrators, if this is not allowed please feel free to remove.

Bill

The holes in the chassis and the arrangement of the fuel pumps made him suspicious. Something was wrong with this car. The interested party presented comparisons with old photos and historical data sheets - and bought the cars. How much did he pay for the Ford GT40, he would not reveal any more than his name. But for a few months is clear: the motorsport enthusiast has found a treasure, the department paid for itself. Because of this Ford GT40 is the second ever built prototype and the first GT40 who were riding in a race at all. , "The history makes car more," says the present owner,


He wanted for years to buy a Ford GT40, searching for one of the rare original vehicle. "The car looks fantastic, like a real race car. I was also tired than Porsche drivers, to be regularly overhauled in vintage car races of GT40," says the racing fan.
Test at the Nürburgring: The doors swing far forward, the entry remains tight as in a fighter aircraft. With knees bent and much acrobatics to fold on the paper towel thin seats. Suspender belts weld driver and passenger almost to the body. It looks out directly onto the street. From the long bonnet do not see anything, so deeply seated one.

The tires whimpering for mercy

On the dashboard of an armada of toggle switches ranks as the aircraft cockpit together. A short press on the start button of the 4.2-liter V8 awakens at the rear. The valves cackle like a goose Horde and the pushrods rattle to the beat. Four Weber carbs draw greedily on air, as it comes from the pit lane on the track.

Even at half throttle the eight-cylinder in the rear wummert yells at higher speeds the soot from the exhaust and babbles rhythmically from the first corner. From the exhaust it pops when switching back and inside it smells like in a pit-lane - for fuel and oil.

In the cockpit there is hot quickly. With the 900 kilograms curb weight, the 450 PS easy game have: The 1.02 meter (40 inches) high Grand Touring (GT) whets from corner to corner, the tires whine for mercy and too much gas the owner directs jerkily against. "The GT40 moves extremely athletic, has a great sound and really makes a lot of fun," the pilot yells at his helmet. He dances with narrow racing shoes on the pedals even narrower and would be no Porsche overtook him.

The opponents were at the beginning of the GT40 history other: The Ford is more than just an American sports car . He showed the ambition and doggedness Henry Ford II. The American patriarch wanted to buy in 1962 Enzo Ferrari company. When the alpha animals not agreed after months of negotiations in May 1963, a deal was not simply burst. The result was a bitter enmity. Ford was so mad that he should have said that he would destroy Ferrari on his own turf - in endurance races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans . He built up his own sports program that should end up winning four consecutive years, 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969 Le Mans.

Departure in the forest

From 1964 to initially arose twelve prototypes, starting with the number 101 and a body made of glass fiber reinforced plastic and small V8 engines. Only then began the official series with a total of 101 vehicles - at the end with V8 engines and seven liters of displacement.

The second car, number 102, was thought to be lost. It was the first GT40 who ever started in a race, the Type 101 was a pure show car.

In his first race at the Nürburgring in May 1964 of 102 dropped out with a broken rear suspension. A month later the driver Phil Hill and Bruce McLaren went to Le Mans at the start and in July at a race in Reims, but retired with technical problems from. On October 28, remained in a test hanging the throttle and the driver John Whitmore rushed from the track directly into a forest. He was unhurt, the front of the GT40, however, was destroyed.


The mid-sixties brought the scrap dealer disused pre-production cars at the plant from to disassemble it. Including the battered chassis number 102, with 6270 miles on the odometer. A trader did not abide by the agreement and selling number 102 on. The car went into a prototype dealer and stayed there 20 years. The turn sold it to a Porsche collector, who converted the Ford race car for the street car. The true value of the unrecognized collectors. So the car dusty 20 years in a shed until it was auctioned the car. By chance, the current owner discovered the car in which collectors.
To make sure that it sits no dizziness, the Motorsportfan examined the Ford meticulously. Even metallurgical studies he let make. The subsequent restoration took two years. Here, the owner sat not only originality, but also in modern-built new parts such as brakes, landing gear and other technically relevant parts. "The engine is usually too strong for the initial transmission and for the landing gear," he says. For OEM front he was a second make. Although until 1965 the race at Le Mans was used and not fit to number 102. "But it is beautiful and aerodynamically stable than the old," he says.

How much of this Ford GT 40 is worth today, he does not know. Perhaps three million euros. Maybe even five. The monetary value of less interest to him. Rather, it is the history of the car. And drivability. "The GT40 does not drive like a stubborn old bitch, but very simple. It's just fun to him to turn some quick laps," says the owner. Clear that he therefore only runs on racetracks - where the GT 40 belongs.
 
Does anyone recall an auction in about 2004 (within the currency of this website) of this car as implied by the article ?
 
Note the details consistent with the car's story. Line of vents along the back of the roof, and flow-through ventilation (oval holes in the chassis visible behind the gearshift lever) point to this being one of the three-digit cars.

Or a really good fake?
 

Rick Muck- Mark IV

GT40s Sponsor
Supporter
Note the details consistent with the car's story. Line of vents along the back of the roof, and flow-through ventilation (oval holes in the chassis visible behind the gearshift lever) point to this being one of the three-digit cars.

Or a really good fake?

But why would you add BRM wheels and a flaired rear clip, things 102 never had during its time? Also the fuel caps do not appear to be the "beveled" right and left hand type used by FAV. IF you found 102 would you not return it to original specification? Also chassis 102 would be a blue painted tub, not black. Again, if you had 102 and were rebuilding it why wouldn't you paint it blue?
 
??,..this car has different front-ends??, the firt in the articlel Looks realy modern and i nevver see this before,...the second, Looks like a later 40 nose,..??
 
But why would you add BRM wheels and a flaired rear clip, things 102 never had during its time? Also the fuel caps do not appear to be the "beveled" right and left hand type used by FAV. IF you found 102 would you not return it to original specification? Also chassis 102 would be a blue painted tub, not black. Again, if you had 102 and were rebuilding it why wouldn't you paint it blue?

Good points all. But many GT40s are now in different forms than when they left the factory. Early cars get late noses or the full Gulf treatment, road cars turned into race cars, even Mk 3 converted to Mk 1 for vintage racing etc.

Even when new, the early cars evolved. Any car racing in 1964 that continued racing in 1965 had numerous changes and the cars continued to change through the 1965 season.

This guy had an idea in his head of what a GT40 was. He bought a pile of bits from a wrecked car, and a whole bunch of new parts, and reconstructed a car around them to fit that image. It doesn't make it any more or less 'real' than if he had restored it to 1964 spec.

Maybe not what you or I would have chosen to do, but it's his money....
 

Rick Muck- Mark IV

GT40s Sponsor
Supporter
Good points all. But many GT40s are now in different forms than when they left the factory. Early cars get late noses or the full Gulf treatment, road cars turned into race cars, even Mk 3 converted to Mk 1 for vintage racing etc.

Even when new, the early cars evolved. Any car racing in 1964 that continued racing in 1965 had numerous changes and the cars continued to change through the 1965 season.

This guy had an idea in his head of what a GT40 was. He bought a pile of bits from a wrecked car, and a whole bunch of new parts, and reconstructed a car around them to fit that image. It doesn't make it any more or less 'real' than if he had restored it to 1964 spec.

Maybe not what you or I would have chosen to do, but it's his money....

Mike,

But if it is 102 and was collected from the wrecked state of 1964 it would NOT have had all of the updates/mods done over the years to most other chassis. Until good proof is presented I call shenanigans!
 
There is no catch release for the rear clamshell, which should be in the middle of the roof vents. I rode in GT105 in 1994 when it still stunk like a '60s car (wonderful smell to me). The fire wall inside the engine bay of this car is much different than the early originals were, unless the photos angles are not so good. The chassis plate is definitely a fresh stamping but that could be restoration. I'm not seeing prototype GT there so far, but it is, at the very least, a really cool replica with some original stuff there.
 
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