In spite of an onslaught by a slew of factory-entered Ford GT 40s, Ferrari finished 1-2-3 at the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans. Henry Ford II then had lapel buttons made declaring "Ford Wins Le Mans in '66," promising the world that his company would and threatening the jobs of anyone at Ford who wasn't with the plan. Ongoing development made the Ford GT faster and more reliable, and an all-star team of drivers was recruited. Ferrari relied on small displacement, high-winding single-overhead-cam V-12s, while Ford approached the job hot-rod-style: lots of cubes, one cam, and a pair of four-barrel carburetors. Here, the Ford Mark II driven by Graham Hill and Brian Muir leads the Ferrari P3 of Lodovico Scarfiotti and Mike Parks. In the end, it was Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon leading Ford's own 1-2-3 overall overall victory, the first of Ford's four wins.
Coverage June 1994
All three GM cars on this cover have a connection to the small-block Chevy V-8. The Firebird was powered by one, in spite of its Pontiac badge. The Impala SS was a new favorite then and remains popular now. The front-drive Monte Carlo packed a tepid V-6 a decade ago, but finally gets a 5.3-liter V-8 for 2006.