Bill Ford Jr. is a Mustang guy.
He’s said many times that his favorite car is an iconic red Mustang convertible, but he has an even more interesting one in his personal stable.
The Ford Motor Company scion and Executive Chair owns the Mustang that served as the pace car for the 1964 Indy 500, which he attended as a seven-year-old.
The white convertible was built during the first hour of the first day of Mustang production on March 9, 1964, and was the 241st car off the line. Ford recently brought it to Jay Leno’s Garage to share the story.
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On the orders of Ford brand boss Lee Iacocca, three Mustangs were set to be turned into pace cars for the Memorial Day weekend race, which was just a few weeks after its official unveiling on April 17.
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Ford told Leno that one never made it due to time constraints, but that his car was sent to the Holman-Moody race team for modifications to make it suitable for use as a pace car, including boosting its top speed to the required 140 mph.
Although it still looks very much like a factory car, the changes under the skin were far from insignificant. The stock 164 hp 260 cubic-inch V8 was swapped for a 450 hp 289 V8 from the Ford GT40 racing car and a four-speed BorgWarner transmission was installed. Chassis bracing and a suspension tuned with Koni shock absorbers improved the handling for running the 2.5-mile oval at high speeds. On the day of the race Ford says it ran without mufflers to amp up the spectacle for the crowd. A third car was built and gifted to race winner A.J. Foyt, who Ford says was his favorite driver, but it was apparently involved in an accident afterwards and lost to history.
The pace car went from Indianapolis to Sebring International Raceway, then went missing for two decades or so that Ford said can’t be accounted for, but about 20 years ago a friend spotted it restored at a car show and gave him a call. Ford soon became its fourth owner.
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It’s not the only pace car Ford has an affinity for. In 1968 he returned to the track as his father, William Clay Ford Sr., drove a Torino GT at the race, and even got to go out with him for practice laps at age 11.
That car’s whereabouts were also unknown for decades, but Ford recently set out to track it down and found it disassembled in Iowa. He said it’s currently undergoing a complete restoration and should be done by next year, when he’ll be bringing it back to Leno’s garage.
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Ford truly has IndyCar history in his blood as his mother Martha is the daughter of Harvey Firestone, founder of the eponymous company that has been synonymous with IndyCar ever since Ray Harroun won the first race in a Marmon Wasp shod in its tires.
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