Ford GT40 Chassis #P1047, one of four MK llb’s and the last one to be accounted for, has been unearthed after a long disappearance. It has been located in a storage facility in Tokyo, Japan.
P1047 has been driven by several famous drivers including Dan Gurnrey, A.J. Foyt, Jerry Grant, Roger McCluskey and Frank Gardner. Painted red and numbered 3 with Dan Gurney at the wheel, it won the pole position at the 1966 24 hours of Le Mans with the fastest lap time of 3 minutes 30.6 seconds. P1047 then led the race for almost 17 hours before it retired due to mechanical problems. After returning from the 1966 Le Mans, the car was cleaned up and sent on a promotional tour.
Following the promotional tour, P1047 was sent to Shelby American to be prepared for the 1967 Daytona. After Daytona, P1047 was sent to Holman-Moody to be reconfigured as a MK llb for the upcoming 1967 24-hours of Le Mans. It was repainted gold, numbered as number 3 and sent to Le Mans for the 24-hour spectacular that June. Roger McCluskey and Frank Gardner did the driving and, although they qualified the car well, P1047 did not finish due to an early morning collision involving two other GT40’s, J-7 (Andretti) and 1015 (Shlesser).
Following Le Mans, P1047 was to race at Reims but, because of the extensive damage from the crash, the decision was made to switch ID plates with that of P1031. Therefore, for many years, it was thought that P1047 was P1031 and vice versa. After the accident, P1047 was returned to the US and placed in storage, eventually being restored around 1972 by Holman-Moody, when the car was painted silver and given a muffler in hopes of making it a street-legal car. At that time, the car was purchased by an unknown buyer in Japan. Details get a bit fuzzy after this point as the car was not seen again for another 30-plus years.
However, Finish Line Motorsports of Las Vegas, Nevada is proud to announce that they will be restoring this rare gem to its original 1967 race configuration. Once completed, P1047 will race again in select vintage events both in the US and abroad.
