The animosity of the 1950s and 1960s between Ford and Ferrari was easy to see and could be cut by a knife, leading to the Ferrari vs. Ford conversation.
Ford entered the era with the goal of simply being able to beat Ferrari at its own game, which is why we have the Ford GT and saw the original GT40 that made it to the tracks at Le Mans. At this track, during this race, Ford was able to best Ferrari and take a one, two, three finish to sweep the podium and leave Ferrari in the dust.
More to the Story
If this were all there was to the tale, Hollywood wouldn’t likely take on this story and make a movie out of it. They certainly wouldn’t want to use some of the hottest names in the film industry to play different roles. The story of a failed sale, the hatred and animosity between the leaders of the two companies, and the drive to best each other on the track is one that can certainly be told and portrayed by many of the top names in the film business that we’ll want to see.
There have been several documentaries already offered regarding this heated rivalry that tells us how the history of these two brands grew to become something special and what we know to be the admired companies they are. Ford has been the volume seller with a car for everyone while Ferrari put a focus on limited production and specialized models for the few who could afford these cars. Two brands couldn’t be more different, but both shared a common goal: taking the checkered flag at Le Mans. This is what drove them to the creation of the cars that made their way to the track.
The rivalry began in the boardroom
The rivalry began when Ford bit to purchase Ferrari, but Enzo wanted to retain control of the racing arm of the Italian company. At the last minute, Ferrari canceled the deal, after Henry Ford II and his executives had traveled to Italy to meet Enzo at the Ferrari factory. This spurned a bitterness that lasted many years as Ford vowed to beat Ferrari at the most popular race in the world: the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This bitter rivalry and the ensuring Ford wins on the track led to the Ferrari vs. Ford rivalry and hatred of each other.
Somewhat unlikely heroes in the Ford story
When Ford vowed to take down Ferrari in the world’s top race they had one glaring problem; they were without a sports car in the portfolio. The Mustang hadn’t been created yet, and no other Ford car was up to the Ferrari challenge. This led the Ford team to turn to Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles as two unlikely heroes of this story; at least from the Ford perspective.
Shelby was a racing champion, winning races across the country, but he was known as a chicken farmer with a terrible heart condition. Miles was a mechanic and one of the most incredible drivers in the world. He was better known for his service in World War II but was trusted by Shelby. With these two behind the new Ford GT40, the challenge could be taken to Europe for Ford to actually take on the Ferrari team and vindicate the embarrassment felt by Henry Ford II.
Ford fixed its reliability issues
Before the legendary win at Le Mans, the Ferrari vs. Ford rivalry was completely in Ferrari’s favor. This was mostly because the GT40 models at the race weren’t made to handle the full 24 hours of racing required to finish this amazing race. This led Ford to do something that wasn’t normal at the time.
The Ford team put the GT40’s engine on a dynamometer. Today, this is common practice, and a dyno can be used for many situations to learn more about an engine or the car it’s in. In the 1960s, dynos weren’t used much at all. The Ford racing team put the GT40 engine on the machine for 24 to 48 hours at a time to recreate the racing conditions the engine would face to make sure it wouldn’t break down.
A Ford win with issues to follow
The Ferrari vs. Ford rivalry ended with the Ford GT540 winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans, taking the first three positions. Ken Miles was technically the champion of the race, but one car traveled farther than Miles’ car, which mean that driver got the win and not Miles. Only a couple of months later, Miles died during testing. Ford vindicated the boardroom embarrassment, but it came at a cost.
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