A Nine Year Project Completed: 1/12 Ford GT #GT110 ,the ’66 Sebring Winner

Le Mans, Trans-Am, road racing, etc.
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ssobier
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A Nine Year Project Completed: 1/12 Ford GT #GT110 ,the ’66 Sebring Winner

Post by ssobier »

I have not been working on this model continuously for the last nine years, but back in 2012 I got the idea of converting the then new Trumpeter 1/12 Ford Gt Mk II into the roadster that Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby drove to an incredibly lucky victory in the 1966 Sebring 12 Hours of Endurance. The storybook win came at the expense of Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant, whose Mk II coupe had led most of the race but had tragically expired literally on the last corner of the last lap.

The car that won this unusual victory was the most unique Ford Gt ever built. Being one of only five roadster versions of the GT40 built would have made this car rare enough, but the fact that the chassis was constructed of aluminum made it one of a kind. (There was a second aluminum chassis built, but it was never given a chassis number and never built up into a complete car.)
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Back in 2012 I started a Work in Progress thread for this build which can be found here:

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=17285

The thread documents the early work on the model and describes most of the major revisions required to make the roadster conversion, as well as addressing some of the Trumpeter kit’s shortcomings. In short the kit is two-thirds of a pretty good model. The front compartment and cockpit, while not perfect, are both acceptable while the engine bay and engine are seriously inaccurate and incomplete. (The new Meng kit appears to be a vast improvement in this area, but apparently has some body issues.)

Alas, momentum and enthusiasm for the build waned and the kit was put away. Periodically I would pull it out and briefly work on it, but that had not happened for several years. Inspiration came this past March when I attended the Sebring race for the first time in over 20 years. Returning home, I pulled the model out of mothballs and did a quick evaluation. I judged the project to be 75-80% complete and decided that I could and should finish it.

Part of the difficulty in researching this car was the relative lack of available photos of the car “undressed.” While there are many photos taken on the track during the race, shots of the uncovered engine bay and nose compartment are very scarce. I was only able to find two such photos, both in Dave Friedman’s book Shelby Ford GT. Taken while the car was being prepped prior to the race, one showed the gearbox being changed and the other showed the front clip removed. Fortunately, both were in color and gave me some idea of how this car was constructed using standard MkII components added to GT110’s unique aluminum chassis.

The main chassis structure, the “tub”, was bare aluminum, while In all other GT40s the tub was fabricated from steel and was thus always painted, usually a medium blue color or sometimes black. To bring GT110 up to MkII spec for the Sebring race various MkII steel components, including the rear cockpit bulkhead, front subframe, rear subframe, “horse collar”, and oil cooler base plates were attached to the aluminum tub. All were painted the standard chassis blue color. Body components, such as sill panels, cowling and the cockpit side of the bulkhead were painted red.

The model is shown as the car appeared at the start of the race, with the headlights and driving lights protected with taped on covers and tape sealing the left door rear jamb.

Steve Sobieralski

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Re: A Nine Year Project Completed: 1/12 Ford GT #GT110 ,the ’66 Sebring Winner

Post by 1slowhand »

Very, very impressive. Your dedication to your project is an inspiration to those of us who have "I'll get back to it" projects in our stashes. Great work on a most unique model. Thanks for sharing and congratulations.
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Re: A Nine Year Project Completed: 1/12 Ford GT #GT110 ,the ’66 Sebring Winner

Post by DiemenRacer »

Nicely researched and built. You certainly have a nice rare model.
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Re: A Nine Year Project Completed: 1/12 Ford GT #GT110 ,the ’66 Sebring Winner

Post by indycals »

Fantastic! This car was so much more than just chopping the roof off a GT40 - lots of mods!
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CK
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Re: A Nine Year Project Completed: 1/12 Ford GT #GT110 ,the ’66 Sebring Winner

Post by CK »

What a beautifully finished GT40!

There is a lot of great work on it. Time well spent on it!
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daves
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Re: A Nine Year Project Completed: 1/12 Ford GT #GT110 ,the ’66 Sebring Winner

Post by daves »

Beautiful build
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Re: A Nine Year Project Completed: 1/12 Ford GT #GT110 ,the ’66 Sebring Winner

Post by Jeff »

Great job, I really like this roofless version, I didn't know about it until now.
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Re: A Nine Year Project Completed: 1/12 Ford GT #GT110 ,the ’66 Sebring Winner

Post by ssobier »

Thanks to everyone for the kind comments.

I should have mentioned in the article that the decals on the model came from Indycals. I was looking through Michael's catalog hoping to find some suitable Autolie decals for the model when I discovered, to my surprise, that he actually makes a 1/12 set for this car. i had never used Indycals before and I was very impressed with them.

Steve Sobieralski
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Re: A Nine Year Project Completed: 1/12 Ford GT #GT110 ,the ’66 Sebring Winner

Post by chaparral2k »

This is absolutely amazing. Im super impressed by how well you got the front windshield looking and worked in with the body.
I know this because I recently made a conversion kit for the 1/24 Fujimi and it was tricky to make an X1 conversion for it.
https://hobbitime74404545.wordpress.com ... jimi-kits/
Visit my website for many Resin and plastic kits at: https://classicracingresins.com
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Re: A Nine Year Project Completed: 1/12 Ford GT #GT110 ,the ’66 Sebring Winner

Post by marlborored »

Great looking build!!
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