P4 ENGINE

p6100007.jpg
 
It's quite real. If you search this forum you'll find it's history and more photos. When I finish restoring it I'm going to take a picture of it sitting next to my MK-IV and turn it into a christmas card with the caption:"35 Years Later. If They Can Live Together Peaceably Why Can't We?"
 
In top speed the MK-IV is faster 223v199. In 1967 the MK-IV did beat it at LeMans but the P4 is much lighter and more nimble and on a short course I suspect the P4 would be faster. In 67 it did win the overall championship.
This is a very hard car to restore. The engine is directly mounted to the chassis as a stressed member. Oil and water flow through the chassis. The engine must be attached to fit the body. The engine is done.
The plastic wrap protects it while it is being used to fit the body.
 
Mark IV J6,

Can you briefly address the confusion of the Le Mans winning J car. I have read in different sources that J5 and J6 won (in 1967) and one said that J5 was also stamped J6. John Allen's book keeps saying that J6 did win Le Mans, but I know that you have said that your car did not, etc.

Thanks
Gary

[ August 16, 2002: Message edited by: CCX33911 ]
 
Well, J 6 was the winning car by Foyt/Gurney, and J5 was 4th by McLaren/Donohue at Le Mans´67.
Later J5 was replicated to lookalike J6.
 
I wonder that plastic wrap???

MKIV: You have a serious problem: how can you race them both simultaneously?
People here love to hear which one is faster. Although the exotica I place my bet on MK IV.

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As Henry Ford said "History is Bunk"
The records at LeMans listed J6 as the Foyt/Gurney car and J5 as the Donohue/McLaren
car. The records were wrong. After the race Ford had J6, which they assumed was the winner, painted to look like the Foyt/Gurney car. They even added a Gurney bubble. They
screwed up the stripes though painting them white. They sent J6 around the US as a display. The winner remained behind where its radiator, race winning engine,chassis plate,
and steering wheel disapeared.
Ford gave J6 to Foyt. Foyt sold J6 to Les Lindley. Les sold J6 to Peter Lavonos. I bought J6 from Peter. When I bought J6 it was still painted as if it was the winner. The stripes were the proper black but a very important identifier was missing. In the upper left of the windshield should have been an orange identifier light. This light enabled the pits to ID cars at night as they roared by. The Gurney car's light was orange. The Donohue car had a blue Pit ID light. The upper side number lite was also color coded.
The chassis plate in J6 was unmolested and the original engine was in J6 when I bought it. The engine number is listed on shipping documents from LA. (SHELBY) to LeMans via Paris, as is the chassis number J6, as is the color YELLOW. The Ford museam and I have confirmed all of this. John Allen has seen my car as have David Hodges and the recent books have been corrected including Trevor Legate's. If you look at the photo in my profile you'll see a pic of J6 as it looks today painted in it's corect colors.
Recently Lee Holman came accross some LeMans documents which may throw some more light on all of this. There are some historians who still believe that J6 was the winner. Even though I own J6 at the present time I believe that J6 is the Donohue/McLaren car.
Best
Jim

[ August 18, 2002: Message edited by: MK -IV J6 ]
 
Thanks for this update! You certainly have a most desirable piece of history in your garage
 
G

Guest

Guest
So the J6 which was at the Monterey Historics last weekend is actually J5?
 
Did it have a VW engine?
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But seriously, the last time I was able to get to the Monterey Historics was in 1997. J-7 and J-11 were there that year - are you sure it wasn't one of those? A lot of the same cars seem to show up year after year...

[ August 20, 2002: Message edited by: Steve Toner ]
 
G

Guest

Guest
Nope, they had a red MkIV listed "J6" in the tent along with Gurney's V12 indy racer, a C5R vette.

Not questioning anyone, just learning.
 
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This is most confusing. Clearly not Mk-IV J6's car, since he told us it's yellow (and presumably would have told us if he sent it out to Monterey for the weekend).

But I'm also confused when you say it was "in the tent." Usually the tent has cars that relate to the featured marque or car (which was Corvette this year). What would a MkIV be doing in a Corvette tent? Or was this some participant's personal tent?
confused.gif
 
G

Guest

Guest
They have several tents, not all being for the featured car. This J6 was red, had a gurney bubble and a #1 on it.

They also had a wall of photos behind it of vintage photos of racing (B&W).

Strange hu?

Kind of matches the story MkIV J6 tells about how the cars were switched.
 
Aha! It was the "Rolex Moments in Time Exhibition" tent

Above link says:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR> 1967 Le Mans-winning 1967 Ford MkIV. The first all-American win at Le Mans was achieved by Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt. The victory came 10 days after Foyt won the Indy 500 and one week before Gurney won the Belgian Grand Prix (see below). The historic car is now a permanent fixture in The Henry Ford Museum. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
 
If this was the car from the museam it was J5. The sign is wrong. J6 is in my garage.
This weekend it will be on the road. My Lola and I will be at Lime Rock this weekend.
There are many photos of J6 on the forum.
Best
Jim
 
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