The Feud that Created America's Greatest Race Car
The true story behind 'Ford v. Ferrari' and the 1966 Le Mans.
By Ezra Dyer
October 8, 2019
It all started with a business deal gone bad. In 1963, Henry Ford II, "the Deuce," decided he wanted Ford Motor Company to go racing.
The only problem: Ford didn't have a sports car in its portfolio.
The quickest way to acquire a sports car, the Deuce thought, was to buy Ferrari, then a race car company that only sold street-legal
machines to fund its track exploits.
Ford sent an envoy to Modena, Italy, to hash out a deal with Enzo Ferrari. The Americans offered $10 million, but as the negotiations
neared their conclusion, Ferrari balked at a clause in the contract that said Ford would control the budget (and thus, the decisions)
for his race team. Ferrari, known otherwise as “Il Commendatore,” couldn’t stomach the surrender of autonomy, so he bailed, sending
Henry Ford II a message the Deuce didn’t often hear: There was something his money couldn’t buy.
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