Item Info

Media Type: Photographic Prints
Source: Automobile Reference Collection
Notes:

ORIGINAL FORD MARK II SPORTS-PROTOTYPE

APRIL 1965 – The first experimental Mark II vehicle – built around the Ford 427 C.I.D. V-8 engine, not the 289 C.I.D. employed in the Mark 1 – was completed. The new car was developed by the same team of Ford engineers and designers, who developed the Mark 1, working now at a new facility called Kar-Kraft. Tests at Ford proving grounds were so encouraging that two Mark IIs were rushed to completion and shipped to France for the 1965 Le Mans race. Although the cars had missed the April trials, they set new lap and top speed records for the 8.3 mile circuit before retiring with a transmission failure in one car and clutch failure in the other.

FORD MARK II – FIRST VICTORY

FEBRUARY 6, 1966 – The Ford Mark II gained its first victory in the 24-Hour Daytona Continental, as Lloyd Ruby and the late Ken Miles averaged 109 m.p.h. Mark II cars virtually led all the way, and finished 1-2-3. The victory came after almost a year of development work, in which many design changes were made. Most noticeable is the nose configuration, shortened considerably from the original prototype. Miles and Ruby drove an open cockpit version of the mark II, designated the X-1, to victory in the 12 hours of Sebring o March 26, 1966.