Broad Arrow Private Sales, is offering for sale one of motorsport’s decidedly greatest racecars, a 1965 Ford GT40, chassis number P1006. Offered from more than three decades of careful custodianship by a noted collector and GT40 expert in France, the GT40 is primed to assume a place at the pinnacle of any serious collection of endurance racing veterans, while remaining highly eligible for continued participation at the highest level of vintage racing.
Following Ford’s problematic yet promising debut of the GT40 at the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the clear goal of all-out Ferrari defeat, Shelby American was brought aboard to tune the GT40’s motor and iron out reliability issues. What was born of this effort was the GT40 MK.1. The troublesome and weak Colotti five-speed transmission was jettisoned in favor of a ZF unit that could handle the power of the Shelby-enhanced 4.7-liter (289 cu-in) engine that now produced 380 horsepower. The aerodynamics were also polished, ensuring far more confidence at blistering speed on the Mulsanne Straight. These refinements culminated in bodywork and styling cues that have remained apparent on the GT40 and its derivatives to today; a look first introduced on the GT40 chassis number P1006.
Chassis P1006 was one of 56 GT40 MK. 1 racing cars produced for the 1965 World Sportscar Championship. It was delivered new in June 1965 to Ford Advanced Vehicles finished in Linden Green with white stripes and as the first car to sport the MK. 1 front panel, the distinct “Le Mans” nose featured in some way on all subsequent GT models. One of six GT40s in Ford’s lineup at the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans, P1006 was piloted by 1961 U.S Formula One Grand Prix winner Innes Ireland and 1961 British Touring Car Championship winner Sir John Whitmore, who managed the tenth fastest time in practice.
Unfortunately for both Ford and Ferrari, the 1965 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was a brutal brawl of pure endurance racing attrition; a mere 14 cars finished out of the 51 on the starting line. After starting dramatically well, none of the GT40s finished. Ferrari would win their fifth consecutive Le Mans. After Le Mans, P1006 continued to serve as a development car for Ford, retiring from the GT40 test program after suffering minimal damage in a test at Monza in September 1965.
The GT40 passed through a handful of private British owners before landing with a caretaker in 1978 who commissioned a restoration from GT40 specialist John Etheridge. The photo-documented revitalization consisted of a rebuild to its 1965 Le Mans specifications, including a repaint in its original Linden Green. P1006 was acquired by its current owner in 1993, an esteemed French collector. The GT40 largely disappeared from the public eye for the next three decades, though residing a stone’s throw from the racetrack it was bred to conquer.
In 2013, the GT40 received an in-house restoration at local Shelby and GT40 expert Auto Techno Sports (ATS) Le Mans Workshop in preparation for that year’s Goodwood Revival. It went on to participate in the Revival’s Whitsun Trophy with the illustrious pilot Henri Pescarolo and ATS’ manager at the wheel, racing in a thrilling all-GT40 field with many of its MK. 1 siblings. It went on to participate in the Concours Le Mans Heritage Club at Le Mans Classic 2016 and was also displayed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans Museum just last year.
Remaining in excellent overall condition, the GT40 was issued an FIA Historical Technical Passport for Circuit, Hill Climb, and Rally Racing in September 2025 that is valid until 2035. It is furnished with an ample history file thoroughly tracing its records from new. The innovations, efforts, and hard-won lessons of the Ford GT40 MK. I in 1965, headlined by this chassis and the Ford Advanced Vehicles program, proved instrumental to Ford’s silver screen-worthy victory in 1966 and further dominance at Le Mans through the close of the decade. P1006 is a significant piece of that lore, keen to return to the very stage it was created to conquer more than sixty years ago.
A full description of the GT40, along with a history file, is available at broadarrowprivatesales.com. Interested buyers are invited to reach out to the Broad Arrow Private Sales team at info@broadarrowprivatesales.com.