Tag Archives: ford

GT Carbon Series

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2021 Ford GT Carbon Series

Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | June 2024

Photo – Bring a Trailer

The second generation of the Ford GT was sold between the 2017 and 2022 model years. If you bought one new, Ford forced you to sign an agreement that you wouldn’t sell it for two years. Or, more so, they put a lien on the car that they would satisfy after exactly two years. If you sold it early, Ford would sue you. The best way around this was to register it to an LLC and then just sell the LLC.

Anyway, this race-bred street car features a whole lot of fancy technology that is backed by a twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 that made 660 horsepower. Various special editions were offered, and this is a “Carbon Series,” which was actually a lightweight package that added gloss carbon-fiber wheels and exterior trim among other things.

It’s unclear how many of these “Carbon Series” cars were built, but Ford planned a run of 1,350 GTs total for this generation. These have been trading hands for over a million since they hit the resale market in 2019, and the bidding on this one is a dollar below that figure as of this writing. Click here for more info.

McLaren M19A

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1971 McLaren-Ford M19A

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monaco | May 2024

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

McLaren’s M19 was used in three different seasons of Formula One, with the A variant in use in 1971 and the C variant raced for ’72 and ’73. The team’s main drivers in 1971 were Denny Hulme and Peter Gethin, with Peter Revson taking Gethin’s place in 1972. Jody Scheckter would also debut for McLaren in 1972, and he currently owns this car.

Power is from a Ford-Cosworth DFV V8 that displaced 3.0 liters. McLaren built four M19 chassis, two of which were M19A spec. This car, chassis M19A-1, has the following competition history:

  • 1971 South African Grand Prix – 6th (with Denny Hulme)
  • 1971 Spanish Grand Prix – 5th (with Hulme)
  • 1971 Monaco Grand Prix – 4th (with Hulme)
  • 1971 Dutch Grand Prix – 15th, DNF (with Peter Gethin)
  • 1971 French Grand Prix – 9th (with Gethin)
  • 1971 British Grand Prix – 15th, DNF (with Gethin)
  • 1971 German Grand Prix – 17th, DNF (with Gethin)
  • 1971 Austrian Grand Prix – 9th (with Jackie Oliver)
  • 1971 Canadian Grand Prix – 3rd (with Mark Donohue)
  • 1971 United States Grand Prix – 10th (with David Hobbs)
  • 1972 South African Grand Prix – 3rd (with Peter Revson)
  • 1972 Spanish Grand Prix – 16th, DNF (with Hulme)
  • 1972 French Grand Prix – 9th (with Brian Redman)
  • 1972 British Grand Prix – 3rd (with Revson)
  • 1972 German Grand Prix – 5th (with Redman)
  • 1972 United States Grand Prix – 9th (with Jody Scheckter)

I mean. Look at those names. It’s no wonder there is an estimate of $800,000-$1,100,000. The car was also used in the 1974 F5000 championship, and in F1, it was a Team McLaren AND a Team Penske car at different points. Read more about it here.

Tyrrell 007

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1975 Tyrrell-Ford-Cosworth 007

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monaco | May 2024

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Here’s another Tyrrell Formula 1 car. This sale also has a re-creation of the team’s famous six-wheeler. The 007 was actually the car that was used right before the P34 (the six-wheeler) debuted. The 007 was on the F1 grid from 1974 through 1977 with various teams.

Power is provided by a 3.0-liter Ford-Cosworth DFV V8. This car, chassis 007/06, has the following competition history:

  • 1975 French Grand Prix – 9th (with Jody Scheckter)
  • 1975 British Grand Prix – 3rd (with Scheckter)
  • 1975 German Grand Prix – 14th, DNF (with Scheckter)
  • 1975 Austrian Grand Prix – 8th (with Scheckter)
  • 1975 Italian Grand Prix – 8th (with Scheckter)
  • 1975 United States Grand Prix – 6th (with Scheckter)
  • 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix – 5th (with Scheckter)
  • 1976 South African Grand Prix – 4th (with Scheckter)
  • 1976 United States Grand Prix West – 13th, DNF (with Scheckter)
  • 1976 Spanish Grand Prix – 16th, DNF (with Scheckter)

After that, the car was purchased by privateer driver Otto Stuppacher, who managed to not qualify or start three races later in 1976. It went hillclimbing in 1979 and 1980 and later made it’s way into the collection of Jody Scheckter. It now has an estimate of $700,000-$950,000. Click here for more info.

Wolf F1

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1977 Wolf-Ford-Cosworth WR3

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monaco | May 2024

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Walter Wolf made money in the Canadian oil business and later came to know Frank Williams, whose first F1 team was struggling. Wolf bought in. Then he bought Hesketh. Then he bought bits of Graham Hill’s former team. At the end of 1976, Wolf forced out Williams, who went on to found Williams Grand Prix Engineering, which is still on the grid.

Walter Wolf Racing first appeared in F1 in 1977. They ran a single car all season for Jody Scheckter, who currently owns this, a derivative chassis of their first entry: the WR1. They would upgrade the car throughout the year as the WR2, WR3, and WR4. This car is chassis WR1/3 (aka WR3, which debuted in March 1977), and it’s competition history includes:

  • 1977 Belgian Grand Prix – 16th, DNF (with Jody Scheckter)
  • 1977 French Grand Prix – 15th, DNF (with Scheckter)
  • 1977 Austrian Grand Prix – 18th, DNF (with Scheckter)
  • 1977 Japanese Grand Prix – 10th (with Scheckter)
  • 1977 United States Grand Prix West – 13th, DNF (with Scheckter)
  • 1978 German Grand Prix – 10th (with Keke Rosberg)
  • 1978 Austrian Grand Prix – 11th, DNF (with Rosberg)

The car features a 3.0-liter Ford-Cosworth DFV V8 and a Hewland gearbox. After Wolf got their WR4 and WR5 cars ready in 1978, they sold WR3 and WR3 to Theodore Racing, who used them with Keke Rosberg. The car ran in F5000 in Australia in 1979 and then in the 1980 Aurora AFX British F1 Championship with the likes of Kevin Cogan and Desire Wilson.

This car was rebuilt under Scheckter’s ownership and now has an estimate of $480,000-$695,000. More info can be found here.

Ford GT Mk II

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2020 Ford GT Mk II

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 2024

Photo – Mecum

From a performance – and pedigree – standpoint, Ford’s second-generation GT blew the first-gen out of the water. It arrived in 2017, and production continued into 2022 (the first gen lasted just two model years). These were more powerful, faster, and more expensive. And they had racing trophies to back it up.

The GT race car, in the hands of Chip Ganassi drivers, scored class victories at Le Mans and Daytona. So it only made sense that Ford would offer some of that racing prowess to the public. The GT MK II was launched in 2019 as a track-only variant of the road-going GT. The twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 was modified to produce 700 horsepower.

It gained a big rear wing and lost some niceties (and weight in the process). This car is #18 of 45 built and wears a Gulf livery. These were over $1 million new, and this one hasn’t been used. Click here to read more about it.

Sierra RS Cosworth

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1986 Ford Sierra RS Cosworth

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Northampton, England | May 20, 2023

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

The Sierra was kind of a remarkable car for Ford of Europe. It was the sort of new-age family car for Europe, much like the Taurus would be in the U.S. But instead of the hotted-up SHO models, Europe got the Cosworth-powered RS.

The Sierra RS debuted at the 1985 Geneva Motor Show and was intended to homologate the Sierra for Group A Touring Car racing. The road cars featured a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four that made 201 horsepower. The Cosworth engine was only available in two-door Sierras that had some body tweaks, including that high-mount rear spoiler.

In all 5,545 were sold, including 500 of the RS500 version. This example remained with a French owner for over three decades and has under 50,000 miles. It has an estimate of $70,000-$82,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

Alain de Cadenet’s Duckhams LM

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1972 Duckhams-Ford-Cosworth LM72

Offered by Aguttes | Neuilly, France | April 27, 2023

Photo – Aguttes

This is a car with a great story. Alain de Cadenet was an English racing driver (and later pretty awesome TV presenter if you like old cars). He raced at Le Mans 15 times, including with cars of his own design. In 1971, he ran Le Mans in a Ferrari 512M. The next year he tried to buy a Ferrari 312 PB, which the company refused to sell to a privateer, as it was based on their F1 car and thus too extreme for an “amateur.”

So he thought of something else. De Cadenet owned a Brabham BT33 F1 car himself, a car which he entered in two 1971 F1 races for his friend and endurance racing co-driver, Chris Craft. So he asked Brabham if they could turn it into a full-bodied sports racing prototype. Bernie Ecclestone, who had just bought Brabham, pointed de Cadenet to a young designer named Gordon Murray.

Over the course of six weeks, Murray designed this. But it needed a new engine – so de Cadenet went to McLaren and bought Bruce McLaren‘s 1968 Belgian Grand Prix-winning Cosworth DFV (as one does). Then he convinced lubricant manufacturer Duckhams to sponsor the whole ordeal. And by June, they were on the grid at Le Sarthe. The competition history includes:

  • 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans – 12th (with Alain de Cadenet and Chris Craft)
  • 1973 24 Hours of Le Mans – 45th, DNF (with de Cadenet and Craft)
  • 1974 24 Hours of Le Mans – 26th, DNF (with Craft and John Nicholson)

For the ’73 race the car received longtail bodywork by Murray, and in 1974, with de Cadenet sidelined with an injury and the Duckhams sponsorship deal over, the car raced as a de Cadenet LM72. Which is pretty awesome, even if he didn’t get to drive it.

The car was restored in 2002 to how it competed in 1972, including with a 3.0-liter Cosworth V8. In period, it also competed in Interserie and Can-Am events. More recently, it’s been active at the Le Mans Classic. The estimate now is $1,600,000-$2,750,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Not sold.

McLaren M81

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1980 McLaren M81 Mustang

Offered by Mecum | Indianapolis, Indiana | May 12-20, 2023

Photo – Mecum

Is this a McLaren or a Ford? Well, kind of both. The Fox-Body Mustang debuted for 1979 to replace the much-unloved Mustang II. It was a return to the Mustang’s true self, and Ford wanted to prove they were serious, so they teamed up with McLaren Performance to build a special Mustang.

These started as a regular Mustang until they were sent to McLaren, where their turbocharged, 2.3-liter inline-fours were torn apart and rebuilt to a higher spec by McLaren. This bumped output from 132 horsepower to 175. They also received steel fender flares, a pretty crazy hood, functional brake ducts, and BBS wheels. This particular one is the only one with a four-speed manual gearbox (the rest had five-speeds).

The plan was to build about 250 of these with a price tag of $25,000. But Ford formed their Special Vehicle Operations team, and the SVO Mustang was soon on its way. Only 10 M81s ended up being built, and this was the original prototype that was also used as a dealer demonstrator. It is one of seven finished in Bittersweet Orange.

This is a pretty special car, and the most special Fox-Body Mustang there is. It’s also the missing link between the McLaren sports cars of the 1960s and the outrageous supercars of the 1990s and 2010s. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $82,500.

Thunderbird Sports Roadster

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1962 Ford Thunderbird Sports Roadster

Offered by Mecum | Houston, Texas | April 14, 2023

Photo – Mecum

The Sports Roadster is the coolest of the Bullet Birds of 1961-1963. Actually, it’s probably the coolest Thunderbird they ever made. The Sports Roadster was introduced in 1962 and was a limited-production version of the standard Thunderbird convertible.

Changes included 48-spoke Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels and a fiberglass tonneau cover over the rear seats that made the car look like a two-seater. Just 1,427 were produced for 1962, and another 455 would be made in 1963

Power here is from a 6.4-liter (390ci) V8 that made 300 horsepower when new. Bullet Birds are among the best-looking of all Thunderbirds, and the Sports Roadster package just takes it up a notch. Black is a classy color for this car, especially over a red interior. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $44,000.

Ford Zodiac

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1965 Ford Zodiac Mk III

Offered by Brightwells | Leominster, U.K. | March 25, 2023

Photo – Brightwells

The Zephyr was Ford of Britain‘s “big car” from 1950 through 1972. The Mark III Zephyr was sold from 1962 until 1966, and it was available as the Zephyr 4 or Zephyr 6, each denoting a cylinder count.

The Zodiac was the luxury version of the Zephyr 6. It could’ve been had during the entire run of the Mark III Zephyr and is powered by a 2.6-liter inline-six that was rated at 109 horsepower, which was more than lower Zephyrs had. Top speed was 100 mph. Styling was also improved: four headlights, a narrower C-pillar, and an upmarket interior.

A Zodiac model would be offered again during the next generation of Zephyrs, but that would be it. This one has spent the last 11 years with its most recent of its seven owners. The estimate is $12,000-$14,500. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $13,023.