In the early 1960s, Ford and Ferrari were in talks about a buyout. Obviously that never happened, and Henry Ford II was fueled by the animosity of Enzo Ferrari backing out of the deal at the last minute. From that rage the GT40 was born, and Henry Ford II put former Aston Martin racing chief John Wyer in charge.

But when Wyer didn’t produce results, the job was turned over to Carroll Shelby. Hemmings Auto Blog reports that the first of the GT40 development cars turned over to Carroll Shelby is heading to auction, and this car has a rich racing history as well.

GT/104 was the first Ford GT40 constructed with a thin-wall tubular frame to save weight, and had just 50 miles of testing before it was shipped off to the 24 Hours of Le Mans where it qualified in eighth place. Unfortunately, a fire four hours into the actual race sidelined the car, and the other two GT40s failed to make it past the 13th hour of the 24 hour race.

That’s when the cars, including GT/104, were shipped to Carroll Shelby, who set to work restoring and improving the burned-out GT40. This included a new lubrication system and a new 289 V8, which helped the GT40 finish in third place overall at the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans. Yes, this is a podium-finishing GT40, though it never climbed back onto the pole after its Le Mans finish.

Since then its served as a show car and a collector piece, and we’d be surprised if it didn’t bring at least a million bucks at the Mecum Auction event in April.