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Model Overview
Exoto is pleased to introduce the quintessential model replicas of Ford's Sebring and Le Mans winning racers: the immortal Mk IV. To honor this beautiful racing machine, Exoto designed our high precision miniatures in grand 1:18 scale, determined to bring you an unprecedented level of finish and detail.
Each wonderful model replica features full opening parts, working suspension with genuine coil springs, intricate mechanical components, a fully wired and plumbed Ford HP427 V8 motor, and the list goes on... Modeling excellence has been pushed to furious new heights!
Model Facts
New Zealander, Bruce McLaren, was returning to Le Mans with Ford having won with countryman Chris Amon the year prior. He had about as much right to be confident as any other competitor. Amon had migrated to Ferrari and was to share a new 330P4. Last minute juggling saw the young American, Mark Donohue, sharing the yellow #2 Mk IV entered by Shelby American. This, despite the fact that Donohue spent countless hours setting up a Ford GT40 Mk IIB for the Holman-Moody team.
McLaren was naturally charged with taking the start. The traditional "Le Mans start" in which drivers sprint across the track to their silent steeds would soon be abolished, but for 1967 this fantastic spectacle was still a part of the experience.
The "Kiwi" knew better than to charge recklessly onto the straight as others passed the pole-sitting #2. Instead, McLaren merged safely into the traffic (despite lighting up his rear tires) and got down to business. By the third lap he formed the tail of the 1-2-3-4 Ford spearhead!
Fraught by minor failures that seemed to attack most vigorously when McLaren was behind the wheel, the unlikely pair did their best to hold station. But at 9:45 on Sunday morning bad luck (and good) visited Bruce McLaren on the way to Mulsanne when the rear bodywork blew off! McLaren pitted, grabbed some tools and tape, and went back out to recover the bodywork. Ford engineers had ordered that the Mk IV engine cover be hinged at the tail to permit easier access during pit stops. Shelby protested but he was overruled.
More drama became the yellow #2 Ford, but the end result was a fourth place finish for McLaren and Donohue. Not what they had hoped for, but in the light of the trials they faced it was a wonderful result for Ford!
Model Specifications
Version: 4th place,Le Mans. car #2, Shelby American
Driver: Bruce McLaren, Mark Donohue
This wonderful replica features full opening parts, working suspension with genuine coil springs, intricate mechanical components, a fully wired and plumbed Ford HP427 V8 motor, and the list goes on... |
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