VIN: the Shelby American Ford GT40 Mk1 chassis P/1018
HISTORY OF CHASSIS P/1018
Chassis P/1018 was one of two Mk1 GT40s built to race trim for promotional use.
It was commissioned by Ford on behalf of Carroll Shelby whose firm had undertaken much development work on the GT40. In addition, Shelby also handled some of the competition programme on Ford’s behalf. Most notably, this collaboration had resulted in the car’s most significant result thus far: victory in the 1965 Daytona 2000km World Sportscar Championship contest.
The first GT40 built with the three-hole chassis panel, P/1018 was configured in Maroon over Black upholstery. It arrived at Shelby’s LAX facility in California on November 9th 1965 where its life as a promotional vehicle began almost immediately as Carroll Shelby posed for pictures with the newly delivered machine.
The first of many motor show appearances followed at the Seattle Motor Show (November 17th to 21st), after which it starred at the San Francisco and Portland expos in quick succession. P/1018’s publicity tour continued at the opening of the Santa Monica Freeway on January 6th 1966 where Carroll Shelby took the wheel alongside Miss Santa Monica.
During 1966, P/1018 was leased to MGM Studios who used it for camera testing at Riverside in preparation for John Frankenheimer’s epic motor-racing movie, Grand Prix. Afterwards, the car was freshened up with a new coat of Blue paint and embarked on a two year tour that included appearances at various Ford dealers and the New York Motor Show.
In 1967, P/1018 made a cameo appearance in an episode of NBC’s hit spy fiction series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. titled The THRUSH Roulette Affair.
On November 20th 1968, the by now three year old GT40 was sold to its first private owner, Ervin Conciatu. The car then passed to David Piper in 1971 who had it refinished in Gulf Oil colours.
During 1973, P/1018 passed to Laurie O’Neil and was exported from England to Australia. Following stints with Japanese collectors Yojiro Nakamura and Saguro Kato during the 1980s, P/1018 returned to the US in 1989. Having subsequently made its way back to the UK, P/1018 spent time as a historic race car under the stewardship of Ray Bellm. It has since been restored to original specification.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Ford - https://www.ford.com
