Some cars carry a pedigree that should make collectors weep. Yet, here we are again, staring at chassis GT/109, a Ford GT40 Roadster that has seen more auction blocks than finish lines lately. We aren’t talking about a fiberglass replica built in a shed or a “continuation” series for the weekend warrior. This is the real deal: one of the original twelve factory prototypes Ford commissioned to personally ruin Enzo Ferrari’s weekend at Le Mans. Specifically, it is one of only five roadsters ever built, and the only open-top GT40 to ever actually start the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1965.
You’d think a car with that resume would be an easy sell, but the market is a fickle beast. Despite an estimated value of $8 million, this white-and-blue masterpiece recently left the Mecum Indy 2025 stage unsold, even after bids hit a staggering $7.75 million.
It seems that even for the 1%, a few hundred thousand dollars is a hill worth dying on. The irony is palpable when you compare it to its sister car, GT/108. That roadster, which never even smelled the exhaust fumes of a competitive race, fetched $7.65 million years ago. Apparently, in the upside-down logic of car collecting, having a “Did Not Finish” on your record is a stain that even a Shelby-designed “Bundle of Snakes” exhaust can’t fully mask.
History tells us that GT/109 was piloted by Maurice Trintignant and Guy Ligier for Ford France. It was a heavyweight contender at 1,065 kg, but its glory lasted exactly eleven laps before the gearbox decided it had seen enough. While Ford eventually figured out how to win, this specific car became a rolling laboratory for Kar Kraft, testing Indy 4-cam engines and automatic transmissions.
Restored to its 1965 glory with a 289 “HiPo” V8 engine and a five-speed ZF manual, it remains a mechanical ghost of what could have been. It’s a 200-mph paradox: a legendary piece of American engineering that everyone wants to look at, but nobody is willing to pay the full “vanity tax” to own. For now, the most famous DNF in Ford history remains a very expensive ornament in Dana Mecum’s garage.
