This is 1 of 7 licensed continuation cars that was built through Kar Kraft (original builder of the Mik IV). Ken Thompson, noted fabricator, and owner of this car, helped build these continuation cars from Ford’s original specs and original parts from 1967.
Wow! I didn't realize one still existed! I think the J - Car that Miles was killed in didn't have the two sharp points below the head lites; it was straight across I believe. But I was under the impression Miles just drove this car with the slightly modified nose.
This just popped up in my RU-vid recommendations, of all the versions of the GT40, this is my favorite, I first saw photos of it in Motor Sport magazine back in the day and as they say, I was blown away, had the model of it on my shelf for a long time, sports car racing was mental in the 60's,70's.
My 2nd favorite after the MK4. Had the slot car and a model as a kid, and bought a 1/24 clear body 15 to 20 years ago to relive that, but never got around to it. Sitting on the shelf since..............
yes the prototype J car which had already come to look a lot more like a MK 4 when it was destroyed in a fatal crash. This must be a recreation possibly on one of the various J chassies that were built but not finished as part of the MK4 program. It has the fiberglass body for the Apr 66 Le Mans test weekend . This was what almost all the slot cars used including the Eldon and Aurora ones that many of us from that period had and loved.
@@charleskirch1749 The car in the video is a recreation of J1. Ken Miles was killed while driving J2 which looked completely different from J1. J3 was the first to have the MkIV look, while J4 was the first to race. This web site can help you and others get this error corrected. fordgt40mirage.blogspot.com/search/label/GT%20101
I was stunned to see this car. I thought it was tucked away in a museum somewhere. It is priceless. I wasn't sure this car still existed. I think it's equipped with the legendary Ford 427 (rumored to easily rev over 7,000rpm. In Nascar trim, these engines produced about 600hp.) On August 15, 1966 (I think?) Ken Miles crashed while test driving Ford J number 2. The crash was so violent that the car broke up and Ken was thrown from the car. He was killed instantly. The J weighed 2,660 lbs. (300lbs. less than a GT40) by using a honeycomb aluminum chassis. Even by today's standards, the cost was, in my opinion, astounding. Where did the "J" in the Ford J come from? In 1965, one of Ford's race car designers (Roy Lunn) proposed building a car that would be competitive, yet conform to the race car construction regulations set forth for Le Mans cars in the class the GT40s were running in. The specifics of these rules was spelled out in appendix J.... I could say more, but it's late and I need to get to bed! The owner mentioned he had trouble seeing out of the back. If it really bothers you, give the car to me....Sorry, I just had to ask. Can you blame me?
+8000RPM From what is told among former Shelby/Ford employees, none do exist. Ford regarded the major flaws of the J car after Ken Miles was killed at Riverside, but didn't want to do so publicly so they kept it quiet and went back to the MkII cars. Ken Thompson built this car. There were nine J car chassis built. The one that killed Ken Miles was obviously destroyed. Apparently the chassis would prevent exactly what happened to Ken, according to theory, but so much for that. Anyway, apparently six chassis were reinforced and designated MkIVs, and the other two chassis were sold to the Agapiou brothers. One was rebuilt into the Ford G7A, the other was sold to somebody in the UK and it was restored into a MkIV instead. While I can't actually confirm either of these details as fact, I was told this by an older gentleman named Lew Lee who claims to have been told this story years ago by two friends of his, one involved with the G7A, the other involved with MkIV development. He claims that one friend told him this story and the other confirmed it as true. Like I said, while I can't state this as fact, it does come from a very reputable forum I'm a member of that includes lots of guys who were directly involved with all sorts of disciplines of racing between the '60s and '80s. A lot of pictures of this car were posted by a friend of Ken Thompson's. He didn't know much about it at all. He was under the impression that it was a real GT40 and posted pictures of it after someone else posted up some pictures of a GT40 being chased by a Chaparral at Monza. He posted them up and all sorts of guy's started getting excited about it because it does look a lot like chassis J-1. That was when Mr. Lew Lee crushed all of our dreams, lol. Here's a link with a little more information about this car. gt40photos.co.uk/page95.html
+Brenden Pavao From what I had read a long time ago, the car ended up being aerodynamically unstable, which led to the crash. Amendment J did away with the part of the spec. which stated that the windshield had to be as wide as the rest of the car. There were some GT40's modified into what was called "Mirages" with a narrower windshield and extremely angled side windows, I believe only one Mirage conversion remains, the other(s) being returned to GT40 configuration. And 600 hp is a bit on the high side for an endurance engine set up I don't think they made as much power as an L-88.
it's rumored that ken miles was payed off by ford to crash and dissapear for some reason. there is an elderly man living Kentucky that claims to be ken, he says after he was taken away by ambulance his wife and son made off with six million dollars and he was pushed into povrety. I don't believe the story myself but if someone did enough research and was able to piece it together that would be pretty cool
bluestingray67 one was returned to GT40 spec (I believe it is now classis P1074) and another was written off at Nurburgring. Though people claim the two time Le Mans winning cgassis P1075 is one, but it has been stated by John Horsman that that was a brand new chassis, it was never a Mirage.
I was unaware that was a J Car. I live in Australia and the news in those days was pretty thin on the ground . I did hear about Ken Miles. It was Road & Track that I got most of my motor racing news. I was pretty young . I remember the MkIV’s in 67. I just assumed after Miles’s crash they parked the J Car & built the MK IV.
Ken Thompson is my Father-In-Law and John Callis who did the video is a good friend and I worked with him at RoushYates Engines. Here's a video I put together of some of Ken's other projects -- ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-H5vCiwMmTG4.html
My understanding there were two and later a somewhat third . Bruce Mcclaren tried it out. Had good fast laps but told Shelby it wasn't stable and dangerous. Holman Moody got one as well. That to my understanding cost him his life. After lemans Ken Miles was trying to perfect it. He was killed but by next year it was the MK 4 with a lot of redesign a totally American engineered car. The MK 2 while American powered was a Lola designed body and suspension. But in my humble opinion the MK 1 and 2 to the eye were the soul of the GT 40. The mk 4 was faster with aerodynamics than the Mk2 with the same power train. But it lacked something.
@@anthonybarnett6828 i absolutely agree. I saw a Gulf MK1 in Melbourne. Beautiful car had a bit of dust on it. It was parked at a garage in Glenferrie Road Malvern. I crawled all around it but didn’t ask it’s history. I wish I had of but I was in a hurry. I was of course being watched . Beautiful Car.
The J-Car was a piece of shit. Yeah, it had low drag, and was fast in straight line, but also was unstable and that killed Ken Miles. Ford decided "redesign" the car only to be similar to the previous british designed GT40 MKI & MKII.
