WSC60 Ford GT40 MkIV

Perhaps the most significant post-war American race car ever produced was Fords Mk IV GT40, and it is nothing short of a racing legend. It was the ultimate development of the GT40 platform, and it took the fight straight to Ferrari, dominating a field that included the Ferrari 330 PF and the Chaparral 2F, as well as its predecessors, the GT40 Mk I and Mk IIB.

As history would reveal, the Mk IV would only be campaigned in two races, at the 1967 12 Hours of Sebring, where Mario Andretti and Bruce McLaren piloted a Mk IV to victory, and at the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans, where Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt outperformed all to the checkered flag and won the Index of Performance for the most efficient car. That victory is the only all-American outright win of an American-built chassis, engine, team, and drivers at the fabled Le Mans 24-hour endurance race.

The 7 litre Ford engine had the durability to go 24 hours, providing the rpm range could be controlled. Ford issued a firm edict to all drivers that 6200 rpm was the limit. No exceptions, even though the engine had a safe limit of 7400 rpm for short-term use. To this end, each car's tach was accurately calibrated and a calibration chart taped in the driver's side door jamb.

Due to the Mk IVs unparalleled performance, the FIA quickly relegated the Mk IV to racing extinction by outlawing any prototype car that had larger than three-liter motors.