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MAGNUS WALKER TAKES AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT AMERICA'S SUPERCAR - THE ICONIC FORD GT

Published: 2022-05-01 08:03:12 Last Updated: 2022-05-03 11:20:06

Many of us who follow big builders and tuners from around the world will know the name Magnus Walker, he’s well known for his amazing Porsche builds, and also for not looking like your typical Porsche technician. Magnus is 100% the kind of guy you’ll gravitate to at a social gathering instead of a stuffy suit-type. For the YouTube serious by Hagerty, Magnus presents for the show The Big Thing, and in the season finale we see the Porsche man taking a close look at the Ford GT while giving us the history of things to do with the car and it’s inception in the world of motorsport. There are a few different versions of the Ford GT, and for this content things concentrate on both the first and second generation Ford GT models as well as a slightly more modern and quite rare MkIII Ford GT40.

First off, it’s true that the 40 in the GT40 name is taken from the height of the car which measure in at 1.02m, or 40 inches measured at the windshield. That’s quite flat for a road car. The Mk1 was based on a MK6 Lola thanks to that car being powered by a Ford V8 already. The first models saw fitment of an American Ford V8 engine in 4.7-litres (289 ci.) and later a 4.9-litre (302 ci). The first versions were built in the UK in Slough, but after some poor performance on track, it was decided to relocate the entire manufacturing and engineering team to Dearborn, Michigan where head office could keep a closer eye on the research and development of the GT project to get it properly competitive on track.

The MkII was rebuilt by Holman Moody in California so that it was beefy enough to be able to contain the massive 7.0-litre FE V8 sourced from the Ford Galaxie. This version also received a new transmission - a 4-speed by Kar Kraft. It was the 1966 race season that saw three different racing teams use the MkII to lay down the law at Le Mans when the cars finished in the first three spots after handing out a very public hiding to Ferrari. The MkII saw a B spec version too, with newly-designed bodywork and a new fuel system headed up by some massive twin Holley carbs. There was also some badge engineering on the new powerplants, giving them Mercury badges to promote that side of the automaker’s portfolio.

The GT40 MkIII is ridiculously rare, just seven examples of the car were manufactured, 4left-hand drive and 3 in right-hand drive, and it was made for the road only. To make it street legal the was equipped with quad headlights and an ashtray was added. Smoking was cool back then. The massive V8 was detuned for road use, the men in white coats deciding that 228 kW (306 hp) was a good number for a streetcar. They’re very rare, and if you do spot one out and about, it’s likely a replica. That’s not a bad thing because even well-build replicas are worth big money.

Take a look at the YouTube video about the iconic/legendary/amazing Ford GT and its rich motorsport history below: America's Supercar: The Ford GT | The Big Thing with Magnus Walk | Hagerty.

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Article Tags: Magnus Walker Ford GT Supercar Iconic Legendary 40-inches SXdrv History Hagerty Cars