Le Mans 1965 is the craziest race you haven't heard about

Top 5 John Ficarra Stories:

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[erikschindler]

After listening to this story for the third time, I’m confident that VinWiki could be a top-of-the-charts podcast.

[percenter]

When he described the engine starting up, it gave me chills.

[HugoStiglitz]

This guy is proof of never judge a book by its cover. He's a great storyteller and this was an awesome story. The details he knew were amazing

[TheStikapos]

Ugh. I could listen to this story forever. Thank you so much…

[joanstockton]

I was at Goodyear in '65, and as I recall, the Goodyear guys were completely out of standard race tires after they were deemed faulty and the Fords were history.. All that was left were rain tires, and that's what the winning Gregory/Rindt car rolled on to victory. Very, very unusual LeMans.

[MartinSage]

I was stationed (Navy) in Naples, Italy in 1974-6. A 2nd Lieutenant got an early discharge unexpectedly and had only a few days to pack and ship out. He had been a race car enthusiast. His pride and joy was his 1967 Dino Ferrari. For some reason ( I never found out why) he decided NOT to keep the car. He was in a big rush to sell it. At the time I had only $1500 cash so I offered to buy the car. To my surprise and delight he accepted my offer. I have never owned such a fantastic car. It had a 2.0 V6 engine with 3 duel Weber carbs (1969-73 had a 2.4L) The motor sounded like a small jet engine with that high pitched whine. I would routinely drive it on the weekend 200km (120 miles) from Naples to Rome on the autostrada (freeway) in about 1 hour!!! I could cruise at 120-30mph all day long in that rocket without a strain from that wonderful engine. The max. speed was said to be 145mph. I once got mine to 140mph before backing off. The only "problem" was it ran on premium91+ gas and at over 100mph would only get 10mpg. When it came time for me to return to the USA the gas shortage had happened with folks waiting in line at the pumps. Stupidly, I decided that the car would be empractible to own and so I sold it before returning. Now they are collectors cars (if you can find one) starting at $100, 000 in poor condition and going up from there. It had features that were decades ahead of it's time like a 2nd backup ignition module, auto engine kill if oil preasure dropped or coolant was lost, hand crank for the electric windows if the battery went dead. It even had a small backup battery to crank the engine if the main battery died. Around town I only used 1st+2nd gear (5speed manual) as 1st went to 45mph.

[SirMoee]

This is honestly great... no CrAzY dramatic music.... no loud voice over. Just a guy telling a great car story like a normal conversation.

[jfanreva]

"it looked like a little warrior"

Given the car's history, that's probably the truest description anyone could ever come up with, and probably the best complement!
Thanks for the video.

[gorgonsigil]

A 20 minute video from vinwiki? Christmas came early.

[jumper]

You can literally hear the reverence for that car in his voice when he's describing it start. That's awesome!

[colevalentine]

John ficarra is a great addition to the storytelling team. Thanks for another great story!

[MattH-wgou]

What an amazing story and storyteller!! Gave me chills when he told of starting it up again!
Hard to imagine just how hard it is on cars and drivers to race for 24hrs straight! At any time but especially in the 60s.

[micraftcannabis]

i want this guy to just sit and tell me stories all day

[mzoe]

Wow. You know you’re watching a great video, when the storyteller makes a 20 minute video feel like a minute.

[Noggles]

I grew up listening to the story of this car and that race because Masten was my grandfather’s brother. The entire video I got to relive story time with grandpa and I loved it. Thanks @VINwiki for producing this one!

[gerryowen]

This was truly a golden era of race car design and driver personality. I was astounded to learn of the basic engineering errors made in the development of the early GT 40's and at Goodyear. The road to victory is long and twisted and full of hard lessons. It was a world of Shelby, Ferrari, Chapman, Gurney, Clark and old Graham Hill. These cars are over 50 years old and they still have the power to thrill us. Thank you for a great story.

[brettbilger]

I love the way this guy tells stories.

[Philobiblion]

Fascinating. It so happens that during the 1964/65 school year I was an exchange student at Lycée Jean Charcot in St Servan (St Malo) and I got to go to this race. In fact, it's the only full-fledged auto race I have ever attended. I had fun overnight wandering around behind the pits talking with people and trying to pick up girls (fail). Eventually, I worked my way around to the Ford HQ pit. I introduced myself to the security guard at the bottom of the steps leading up to the 'luxury' box above the pit area. He was an American from the Midwest somewhere, and when I said I was an exchange student he immediately asked me if I could speak French, which I could quite well by that time. He gave me some guy's name and told me to introduce myself and say I could speak French. So I went up, found the guy, who was kind of frazzled (it was about 3AM and he was really wasted-- there was a full bar). Immediately I was pressed into service translating for some French businessmen and the Ford dudes. I did this for several hours, until after dawn. Meanwhile, I had a huge meal of French and American delicacies and tons to drink, which made my French more colorful. What stick in my mind almost 60 years later are the five or six really, really beautiful girls hanging around, completely bored out of their brains. They were there for the entertainment of the Ford execs, but even I could tell something was amiss, and the last thing those guys were interested in was playing around with young ladies. One of them even put a move on me, which the sixteen year old me thought was amusing, but also threatening, and I didn't get involved. Finally a Ford person who spoke decent French showed and I was released.

[EdBolian]

So many awesome twists in this one. Thanks for sharing John!

[izzojoseph]

This guy tells stories beautifully. I could listen to him read the phone book.