GT-40 Camera Car From “Le Mans” Movie Up For Grabs

In 1971, Steve McQueen starred in the racing flick “Le Mans”, which to this day is perceived to be one of the most period-accurate depictions of racing from the 1970’s era. Like many McQueen movies, the focus was less on the people, and more on the cars. The first dialogue isn’t even uttered until 35 minutes into the film. Starring plenty of European exotics like Porsches, the real star of the film was a Gulf-liveried GT-40.

Over 40 years after the film’s debut, this famous movie Ford is heading to the auction block reports Hemmings Auto Blog. This “camera car” will be sold at RM’s Monterey auction later this summer.

The GT-40 was added to the Le Mans film due to McQueen’s insistence that they not use sped-up film to make the cars look faster than they were. This is in fact an authentic Ford GT-40, one that competed in many important races of the era with Jackie Ickx and Dr. Dick Thompson at the helm, winning several podium finishes in the process.

After McQueen was done with this race car for filming, it passed through the hands of several collectors, being modified and restored several times over before being returned to its vintage racing condition. And that is how it will be sold when it crosses the auction block in mid-August. How much it goes for is anybody’s guess…what’s yours?