Bruce McLaren/Chris Amon GT40

[1961redlegs]

Freshly completed this evening is my replica of Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon’s winning Ford GT40 from the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Stories, research, lore, and legend all detail Ford’s efforts for the 1966 race. It’s my favorite racing story, a battle of automotive giants, with the action playing out on the chessboard of life. Here’s the abridged version.

Ford toppled the seemingly invincible Ferrari from its lock on the 24 hour enduro as the rain fell.

Henry Ford II, with his machines holding the top three spots wanted a publicity-friendly finish. The McLaren/Amon ride pipped Ken Miles and Denny Hulme who’d held first a healthy portion of the race as they slowed to fulfill Ford’s wish.

McLaren and Amon sheepishly took the winner’s honors as Miles and Hulme, sorrowfully looked on.

For McLaren and Amon it was a centerpiece of brilliant careers, for Miles winning would’ve been the major win of a brilliant career. Sadly, he’d never have another crack at Le Mans, as he died weeks later in a testing crash.

This is the Fujimi kit, painted Tamiya black, with Indycals decals. I’d wanted to do this car for some time, but didn’t have decals worthy of the car. Luckily, Indycals released the best set of decals for this car yet, a set worthy of the magnificent machine and its heroic pilots.

Thank you for looking!

[clm1545]

Looks real good, Jerry!

[Gary Davis]

Jerry....You've done an outstanding job on this build just as equal to the status of the 1/1. Great job

[racerbrown]

Beautiful job!
thanks for sharing.
duane

[pje]

Really looks nice Jerry. One of my favorite LeMans winners. I’ve got my kit about half way done and also just got Michael’s decals. Did you use his tire decals on this build?

Paul Erlendson

[Art Laski]

That's a beauty, Jerry!

[Joel]

Jerry,
Just a stunning build of a truly Iconic race car. I still remember that race as I had to wait until the Monday NY Times was delivered to the house to find out who won. Racing news in those days traveled at a Snail's pace.

Paint looks perfect, and those IndyCal decals look like they were painted on. I've got the same kit waiting to make it to my workbench mid winter or so. I'm planning on doing the #3 car of Gurney/Grant with IndyCal decals. From what I can see the white circles had no bleed through of the black paint. One can't ask for more.

Thanks for sharing your build with us.

Joel

[1961redlegs]

Thank you for the kind words, guys! The Fujimi kit is generally a good one to work with (except for installing body to chassis, that was a royal, curse-inducing, pain for me at least).

Paul, the tire decals are indeed Indycals. These decals work really well on the tires, make sure (as with any decals on rubber vinyl tires) to put some sort gloss coat on the tires before applying the decals. (I first wipe the sidewalls down with 70% alcohol on a Q-Tip, allow them to dry, then apply future floor wax, allow that to dry, apply decals, then use Tamiya lacquer matte clear coat to finish.)

[Joel]

Oct 23, 2018 12:29:12 GMT -5 1961redlegs said:

Thank you for the kind words, guys! The Fujimi kit is generally a good one to work with (except for installing body to chassis, that was a royal, curse-inducing, pain for me at least).

Paul, the tire decals are indeed Indycals. These decals work really well on the tires, make sure (as with any decals on rubber vinyl tires) to put some sort gloss coat on the tires before applying the decals. (I first wipe the sidewalls down with 70% alcohol on a Q-Tip, allow them to dry, then apply future floor wax, allow that to dry, apply decals, then use Tamiya lacquer matte clear coat to finish.)

I also decal my tires, but I gave up on Pledge/Future some time ago. I prefer a coat of Tamiya X-22 Gloss which is a lacquer Acrylic. Dries shiny and hard as a rock. I do rub it out with some wet 3,000, then decal with the Micro system. Then seal with a lacquer gloss, and rub that out with 3,000. then some good old Dullcoat.  So far I've never had any issues. 

Joel

[Deleted]

Beautiful work Jerry. Michael hit a home run with his GT40 series.

[mjjracer]

Beautiful work! Looks like the real deal.

And how would I know? Funny you should ask. :-)

When Ford invaded Indy with my heroes Jimmy Clark and Dan Gurney, I became a Ford fan for life and have owned many. So I was riveted to everything Ford was doing in racing, including Le Mans, Indy and Nascar. The Le Mans win was HUGE to me, coming the very next year after I attended the 65 Indy 500. Which went well for me, needless to say.

So on that winter day, December 1966, I was riding with my mom (in our Falcon 260 V8) into downtown Rockford, Il. As we drove past the only Ford dealer in town, I went pretty much crazy when I saw the black #2 GT40 MkII on the showroom floor. I almost yanked the wheel to get her to pull over and let me out while she went to the appointment.

I spend the next hour or so drooling all over the floor. I must have looked at each inch of that car several times. Of course I had to talk her in to going again. I'd never seen anything more beautiful (I had not yet discovered Brigitte Bardot.)

Of course, I know now it was a different car painted like the winner. Doesn't matter to me. Of course, as soon as IMC produced the model, I had to build it (like everything else they made).

Now with Michael's beautiful decals, I need to find more Revell/Fujimi cars. I need to do this one, Miles/Hulme's should have been winner. And Gurney's, just for the Eagle G on the nose in place of the Blue Oval and the AAR stickers on the windows.

Thanks for reading the meanderings of an old man. And thank you Jerry for providing incentive.
MJ

[Joel]

MJ,
Great story. Loved reading every bit of it.
Joel

[alterrenner]

I've built several of these GT40 kits from Fujiimi, and agree that the body-onto-completed-chassis step is a heart-stopper! I like to think of it as Fujimi's way of showing you where all your bad glue joints are!

--Frank

[Joel]

Oct 25, 2018 7:06:45 GMT -5 alterrenner said:

I've built several of these GT40 kits from Fujiimi, and agree that the body-onto-completed-chassis step is a heart-stopper! I like to think of it as Fujimi's way of showing you where all your bad glue joints are!

--Frank

Frank,
  Good one. I'll have to remember it when I build mine.
Joel