--- title: Ford · HICONIUM description: "The company that went to Le Mans to beat Ferrari — and did, four times straight." canonical_url: https://hiconium.com/manufacturers/ford image: https://hiconium.com/og/marque/ford.png --- > HICONIUM · Index: https://hiconium.com/llms.txt · Every page: append `.md` or send `Accept: text/markdown`. > Path: [Home](https://hiconium.com/) › [Manufacturers](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers) › Ford > On this page: [The essential Fords](#the-essential-fords) · [Every Ford on file](#every-ford-on-file) · [Le Mans Bloodline](#le-mans-bloodline) · [Mass production built Ford; Le Mans defines its collector-car peak.](#mass-production-built-ford-le-mans-defines-its-collector-car-peak) · [Who drew and built the Ford files](#who-drew-and-built-the-ford-files) · [The script came first.](#the-script-came-first) ![Ford — manufacturer stage](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/stage/ford.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) [Manufacturers  /  Ford](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers) # Ford Dearborn, USA · est. 1903 Mass production built Ford; Le Mans defines its collector-car peak. Ford's collector-car peak lies in its competition-led GTs. Chassis identity and race history carry the GT40 hierarchy; factory configuration distinguishes the modern GT. Models 2 Top value €5.5M Period 1903– [Explore models](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers/ford#essential) [Manufacturer profile](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers/ford#house-profile) ![Ford — manufacturer stage](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/stage/ford.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) Curated entry points ## The essential Fords Three cars that explain the manufacturer: its origins, its engineering peak and the shape of its modern ambition. [1964–1969 ### GT40 Four straight Le Mans wins — the definitive American racing car. Collectibility 97 / 100 Indicative value €5.5M](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/ford/gt40) [2017–2022 ### GT The carbon-tub anniversary GT — application-only, class win on debut. Collectibility 85 / 100 Indicative value €850k](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/ford/gt) Complete catalogue ## Every Ford on file 2 models · 1 families By family Sort Filter ## Le Mans Bloodline 2 The cars built to beat Ferrari at Le Mans — the original GT40 in all four marks, and the 2017 GT that repeated the class win on the anniversary. [1964–1969 · 4 variants GT40 Four straight Le Mans wins — the definitive American racing car. €5.5M 33 sales · median $7.02M 97 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/ford/gt40) [2017–2022 · 4 variants GT The carbon-tub anniversary GT — application-only, class win on debut. €850k 341 sales · median $605K 85 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/ford/gt) The house ## Mass production built Ford; Le Mans defines its collector-car peak. When Enzo Ferrari walked away from Henry Ford II’s buyout in 1963, Ford built a weapon instead. The GT40 won Le Mans in 1966, ’67, ’68 and ’69 — the 1-2-3 photo finish of 1966 remains motorsport’s most famous corporate revenge. Just over a hundred were built across the four marks, from raw racers to the road-trim Mk III. Genuine cars trade in the millions, with works race history multiplying the number. In 2016 — fifty years after the first win — the carbon-tub GT returned to Le Mans and won its class on debut. The road version was sold by application only, and the special editions already clear seven figures. Founded 1903 Ford Motor Company was incorporated in Michigan on 16 June; the first Model A sale followed in July. Model T output 15 million cars Ford built and sold that total from 1908 until production ended in May 1927. Production method Moving assembly line Introduced at Highland Park in 1913, it reduced Model T chassis assembly from 12.5 hours to 1.5 hours. Documented sale $11 million GT40 P/1074 sold at RM Sotheby's Monterey auction in 2012, supported by period Gulf competition history and its use as a camera car for Le Mans. Selected milestones ### A bloodline, not a list. 1. 1903 Ford Motor Company is incorporated The company begins in Detroit with the Model A and a production-led approach to the motor car. 2. 1908 The Model T enters production A simple, durable car designed for broad use gives Ford the product around which it can build mass production. 3. 1913 The chassis line starts moving Highland Park applies an integrated moving assembly line to automobile production, cutting time and cost at scale. 4. 1963 The GT programme receives its brief Ford creates a unit to develop a purpose-built racing GT capable of contesting Sebring and Le Mans. 5. 1966 The GT40 sweeps Le Mans Three GT40 Mark IIs finish first, second and third, beginning four consecutive Ford victories at the 24 Hours. 6. 2015 The carbon-fibre GT is presented Ford returns the mid-engined GT as a carbon-fibre, twin-turbo V6 programme developed for both road and endurance racing. What defines Ford ### Engineer for production Ford treats manufacturing method as part of the car, from the Model T line to the repeatable carbon construction of the modern GT. ### Develop through competition The GT40 and later GT programmes use endurance racing to test aerodynamics, structures, powertrains and reliability. ### Rework the formula The modern GT keeps the two-seat, mid-engined brief while replacing visual imitation with a carbon tub, active aerodynamics and a turbocharged V6. The hands ## Who drew and built the Ford files One name in the register stands behind this manufacturer. Their own file follows the work wherever it went. - [AI-generated Ken Miles Development driver of the GT40 programme. One file · racing racing 1 file](https://hiconium.com/people/ken-miles) [The whole register of people](https://hiconium.com/people) The mark ## The script came first. Dearborn, 1907: Childe Harold Wills, Ford’s first chief engineer, had earned pocket money as a teenager printing calling cards, and when the company needed lettering he set the name in the same Spencerian script — the flowing capital F, the tail under the d. Trademarked in 1909, it has never been redrawn. The oval began in Britain, where Ford’s agents stamped the name into a “hallmark for reliability and economy”; the blue arrived in 1927 on the Model A’s radiator. Script, oval, blue: three decisions, all made before 1930, still on every Ford built today. Ford script: Childe Harold Wills, 1907 · trademarked 1909 ![Ford crest, 1903–1907](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/ford/logo-1903.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1903–1907 Art-nouveau filigree around “Ford Motor Co. Detroit, Mich.” — the badge of a start-up. ![Ford crest, 1909–1912](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/ford/logo-1909.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1909–1912 Wills’s script stands alone — the lettering that outlived everything around it. ![Ford crest, 1912–1917](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/ford/logo-1912.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1912–1917 The winged triangle: “The Universal Car”, navy and white — dropped within five years. ![Ford crest, 1927–1957](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/ford/logo-1927.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1927–1957 The blue oval arrives with the Model A — script and shape finally united. ![Ford crest, 1976–2003](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/ford/logo-1976.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1976–2003 The chrome-rimmed oval, standardised on every plant and product worldwide. ![Ford crest, 2003–](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/ford/logo-2003.png.w1920.q75.webp) 2003– The Centennial oval — polished for the hundredth year, flattened since for screens.