Ford GT40 Mk IV Shelby American No. 1 Foyt Gurney Winner 24h Le Mans 1967 Spark Model 1:43

Among all the Ford GT40 variants that contested Le Mans during the mid-1960s Ford programme, the Mk IV stands apart. Built entirely in the United States by Kar Kraft in Michigan rather than by Ford Advanced Vehicles in England, the J-Car represented a clean-sheet American engineering effort, and car No. 1 put that effort on the top step of the podium in June 1967.

The Mk IV: An All-American Racing Machine

Where the earlier GT40 variants relied on a steel monocoque, the Mk IV adopted an aluminium honeycomb chassis — a construction approach borrowed from aerospace and wholly distinct from its predecessors. Power came from the Ford 427 cubic inch (7.0-litre) FE V8, producing around 500 bhp and driving through a Kar Kraft four-speed gearbox. The car measured 4,310 mm in overall length, a consequence of the full-width bodywork that distinguished the Mk IV visually from the narrower earlier GT40 body. Carroll Shelby oversaw the Ford racing effort in 1967, and the cars were entered under the Shelby American Inc. banner.

Le Mans 1967: Foyt, Gurney, and the Birth of a Tradition

Car No. 1 completed 388 laps of the Circuit de la Sarthe to take the outright win, with the Ferrari 330 P4s of the factory team finishing second and third behind it. The victory was the last time a fully American-built car driven by an all-American pairing won Le Mans outright. It was also the race that gave motorsport one of its most enduring customs: Dan Gurney's spontaneous champagne spray from the podium — directed at the crowd and Ford executives — is universally credited as the origin of the post-race champagne celebration that every series in the world now observes. The white and blue Shelby American livery worn by car No. 1 is therefore not simply a race winner's colour scheme but a piece of motorsport cultural history.

The Spark Model in 1:43

Spark Model has reproduced car No. 1 as part of their Le Mans Winners series, rendered in resin at 1:43 scale. Resin allows Spark to capture the Mk IV's distinctive wide-body profile and the period Shelby American livery graphics with a fidelity that diecast construction at this scale rarely matches. The model represents the Foyt and Gurney race car as it appeared at Le Mans in 1967, with No. 1 markings and white and blue livery consistent with the Shelby American entry.

In the Display Cabinet

This 1:43 scale model sits naturally alongside other Le Mans Winners series pieces from Spark — the Ford GT40 Mk II No. 2 of Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon from 1966, or the Gulf-liveried GT40 Mk I No. 9 that Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver won with in 1969. It equally completes a narrative of the mid-1960s Ford versus Ferrari battles at La Sarthe, pairing with the Ferrari 330 P4 models that finished second and third in the same 1967 race. For collectors focused on American motorsport heritage, the Shelby American Cobra Daytona Coupe from the same era provides a compelling companion from the same team's stable.