The Ford GT returns. Its triumphant march to @24hoursoflemans began with a win at the first @Rolex24Hours in '66. pic.twitter.com/ycXmQJLq85
— Ford Performance (@FordPerformance) January 26, 2016
Ford's blazing four-year victory streak at the most prestigious race in the world was fueled by revenge.
Henry Ford II, the grandson of the company's founder, was not a forgiving fellow. He fired the designer of the wildly successful Ford Mustang simply because he didn't like the guy. So when Enzo Ferrari strung him along with promises to sell the luxurious Italian sports car line, and then refused to sign the final contract after months of negotiation, Henry II was mad.
So mad, that he entered a globally-renowned race, 24 Hours of Le Mans, at which Ferrari had been enjoying a six-year winning streak.
He gave his team the singular instruction, "You'd better win."
The new Ford GT took home first, second, and third place in 1966, and won first in '67, '68, and '69. Then, perhaps, he decided his Italian rival had had enough. Ford has been notably absent from Le Mans for the past half-century.
That is, until this year.
This June, the new Ford GT is returning to Le Mans, where we at McCafferty Ford of Mechanicsburg hope they will once again triumph. Visit us to test drive sleek new vehicles with racing in their blood.
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