After Some 50 Years, End Story of GT40 'Field Find' Finally Told
Most people have heard of the phrase, “Six Degrees of Separation,” which describes the theory that all people are six (or fewer) social connections away from each other. But could the same idea that a chain of a maximum of six “friend-of-a-friend” relationships could be all that separates the random discovery of an incredibly rare and significant car nearly a half-century ago with the story of whatever happened to it? It certainly seems the case with the story of my barn find GT40.
Well, maybe I should call it a “field find.”
Back in 1971, I purchased a 1966 Shelby GT350. The car was bone stock when I bought it, and I proceeded to modify the car and run it in gymkhanas and open-track events. I added a roll bar, dual quads, a rear sway bar, side pipes, rear seat-delete package tray, and a set of 15-inch Shelby 10-spokes. I mounted 15-inch B. F. Goodrich Radial T/A’s on the 10-spokes, and that is when I came across a very interesting find in a field in Ohio.
I had discovered a good source for used take-off “test tires” in Medina, Ohio. I was out there one afternoon to pick up my used BFG’s, and while waiting to have them mounted, wandered around behind the shop to look around for any kind of interesting stuff I might find in the piles of treasures that typically surround a busy automotive repair shop that does a lot of custom work on high-performance cars. Well, far beyond the shop past the trees, I spotted something that looked very interesting. When I made my way past the trees into a clearing,
THIS is what I found:
