- One of the 12 original Ford GT40 prototypes is headed for auction
- The car, bearing chassis no. GT/109, is one of only two surviving roadster examples
- The car was the only roadster prototype to race at Le Mans, which it did in 1965
A rare opportunity to own one of the original Ford GT40 prototypes is coming up soon.
The 2025 edition of Mecum’s annual auction in Indianapolis, scheduled for May 9-17, will see a 1965 Ford GT40 Roadster prototype go under the hammer.
The car, which bears chassis number GT/109, is one of 12 prototypes for the GT40 built between 1964 and 1965. Five of those prototypes were roadsters, and GT/109 is the only roadster to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It competed in the 1965 race, with Maurice Trintignant and Guy Ligier as drivers, but retired after the 11th lap due to gearbox troubles.
After the race, it was shipped to Shelby American for a rebuild order. However, the plans changed, and the car ended up becoming a development car for Kar Kraft’s automatic transmission, Ford’s Weber-carburetor four-cam Indy motor, and numerous other engine and brake systems over the years. Eventually, Californian car customizer Dean Jeffries acquired the car from Ford in 1968, and its current owner, Mecum founder Dana Mecum, acquired it from Jeffries’ son in 2013 and had it restored to its original Le Mans configuration.
1965 Ford GT40 Roadster prototype bearing chassis no GT/109 – Photo via Mecum
GT/109 is one of only two surviving roadster prototypes. The other, bearing chassis no. GT/108, went up for auction in 2019, fetching a final bid of $7,650,000. It wasn’t unusual for the GT40 prototypes to be used for testing and later scrapped. Even the first two GT40 prototypes built, GT/101, the example shown at the 1964 New York auto show, and GT/102, were both scrapped after being used for crash testing.
In its current specification, the car features a HiPo 289 V-8 engine that has been rebuilt and includes a Ford/Shelby experimental intake manifold, plus the original Shelby-designed “Bundle of Snakes” exhaust system. The 5-speed manual transmission was also rebuilt.
This will be the third time Mecum has attempted to sell GT/109. It was placed under the hammer at Mecum auctions in 2018 and 2020, and on both previous times was passed in.