Diorama Le Mans 1966

To prepare for the 1966 24 hours of Le Mans, Ford rented part of the large Peugeot dealership near the city of Le Mans. The 3 teams entering MkIIs for the race shared  the same location. SAI (Shelby) prepared the # 1 (The blue car) #2 (the future winner) and #3 (the red car) H & M (Holman & Moody) had the # 4 - 5 and 6 and Alan Mann had the #7  (silver) and #8 (yellow).
I choose to present the Shelby cars in my diorama.
The winner (#2) is the kit I showed in my previous post: the highly detailed kit by PROVENCE MOULAGE. The #3 in a kit by TESTOR (based on the UNIVERSAL HOBBY kit, itself based on the JOUEF EVOLUTION one) that I chose for its opening parts. I modified it, the original kit being imperfect. The #1 is a kit by MARSH MODELS. This car raced with red "flames" on the front fenders added prior to the race. This diorama represents the Peugeot garage during practice therefore I chose to make this car without them.


The MkIIs in the Peugeot Garage:

The Diorama:

Ford MkII winner LM 66 "Provence Moulage"

The making of the 1/43 highly detailed kit by PROVENCE MOULAGE of the FORD MkII Le Mans 1966 winner

I bought this kit a few months ago on eBay. It was originally released around 2000 and is now out of production. It was one of a few kits highly detailed with opening parts made by Provence Moulage for some anniversary or maybe for the millennium. I have almost 40 years of experience making kits but I never have made one so detailed and I was a little bit anxious to start it.  Making it was surprisingly easy considering that there are almost 300 parts. It took me over 2 months to finish and I was really happy with the result. I will present that model in a diorama in my next post.


The kit as I received it:

The instruction sheets:

After painting:

Almost done:

The final result:

Ford J11 & J12

Ford J  Chassis J11 & J12

The last two spare chassis built, later numbered J11 & J12 were kept unused for some time. They were sold in the 1970s. Both being owned at one time by the same owner who started but didn't finish the completion of these cars as MkIVs. Sold again the cars changed hands several times and both are today finally finished and with a private collector: J11 in a white livery with Le Mans style stripes and J12 in red as a look alike of the winner of Le Mans 1967 with some slight differences.

The Models: 

Ford J  MkIV - Chassis J11 (IXO)

The same

J11 at Le Mans in the 1990s

J12 being prepared for an historic event

Ford J10

FORD J  GR7A  Chassis J10

J10 was sold as a bare chassis (along with J9) to Charlie Agapiou for racing in the Can Am series. J10 was completed by its new owner as a Can Am racer and competed in the 1969 and 70 seasons without much success. In 1970 it badly crashed and only the chassis was saved. It was sold years later and was rebuilt by its new owner as a MkIV.

The models:

Ford G7A - Chassis J10 - Can Am 1969 Michigan
(Kit MARSH MODELS)

The same

Ford G7A - Chassis J10 - Can Am 1970 -
 (Kit MARSH MODELS)

The same

J10 racing in the Can Am series in 1969

J10 racing in the Can Am series in 1969

J10 racing in the Can Am series in 1969

J10 racing in the Can Am series in 1969
Driver : Jack Brabham

Ford J9

FORD J  G7A  Chassis J9

For 1968 the Le Mans regulations changed without warning. That made the MkIVs obsolete. Four new chassis were already built. Ford decided to used two of them (J9 and J10) to be developed for the Can Am series.
J9 was sent to Kar Kraft and a car with an open cockpit and a complicated adjustable dual rear wing was assembled . The car was never raced but was tested all along the 1968 season. It was slow and unreliable and the project was put to an end.
The complete J9 car and the J10 chassis plus a some parts were sold to the former Shelby mechanic Charlie Agapiou for 1$.
J9 remain unraced and was kept as a spare car for the following Can Am seasons. The car has been years later restored as a MkIV coupe.

The Models:

Ford J  G7A  Chassis J9 Test Can Am 1968
(Kit MARSH MODELS)

The same

J9 during testing

J9 during testing

J9 during testing

J9 during testing

J9 during testing

Ford J8

FORD J  MkIV  Chassis J8

J8 was the last one of the MkIV prepared for Le Mans. It was entered by Holmann & Moody. Soon after completion it was sent to Le Mans where it retired after 7 hours of race. Then it was stored for a while at Kar Kraft and later donated to the Harrah collection in Reno Nevada. In 1985 when the Harrah museum was dispersed J8 was sold at auction to a private collector.

The models:

Ford J MkIV - Chassis J8 - Retired Le Mans 1967 (SOLIDO)

The same

J8 prepared for Le Mans

J8 at Le Mans

J8 with its 4 sister cars at Le Mans