We’re imagining that, if you’re a 1931 Dusenberg Model J Long-Wheelbase Coupe, you pride is at least 10 times as long as your name, especially since you hold the record for the most expensive American car sold at an auction at $10.34 million (EUR8.37 million). Thus, you never would’ve expected to be beaten by a Ford, but we have to tell you that your record has been blown at Friday’s RM Auctions, where a 1968 Ford GT40 Gulf/Mirage Lightweight Racing Car fetched a whopping, and nicely rounded $11 million (EUR8.9 million).
So, why did the racer managed to excite the bidders to such a level? Well, we’ll start in 1967, when the car, which was still Mirage M.10003 at the time, won the Spa race, becoming the first car to wear the Gulf livery and take the checkered flag. Next year, the vehicle became GT40 chassis number P/1074, after it was modified by J.W.A. in the UK.
It went on to win a few more races and it was subsequently sold to David Brown of Tampa, Florida in 1970, who leased it to Steve McQueen’s (Cash Bingo!) Solar Productions, which used it as a camera car in the now-famous Le Mans motion picture. The vehicle had it roof removed in order to be able to receive all the equipment and it was sold after five months of work. Multiple owners have had it in their collections since then and it has also been restored to its racing condition. Enough reasons for it to get the cash?
Our say: Ford's fulfilled ambition to develop a race car that would trash Ferrari still pays of after all these years.
It went on to win a few more races and it was subsequently sold to David Brown of Tampa, Florida in 1970, who leased it to Steve McQueen’s (Cash Bingo!) Solar Productions, which used it as a camera car in the now-famous Le Mans motion picture. The vehicle had it roof removed in order to be able to receive all the equipment and it was sold after five months of work. Multiple owners have had it in their collections since then and it has also been restored to its racing condition. Enough reasons for it to get the cash?
Our say: Ford's fulfilled ambition to develop a race car that would trash Ferrari still pays of after all these years.