One of my favorite cars of all time is the Shelby Daytona Coupe, it is not only an amazing car but one that is so great simply because it was built out of the drive and passion of competition. Shelby Daytona Coupes were entered in a number of races in 1964-65 through the British Alan Mann Racing Ford factory team, as well as a temporarily selling or leasing to other racing teams such as “Tri-Colore” of France and Scuderia Filipinetti of Switzerland. The cars were built with one purpose... to take on Ferrari and its 250 GTO in the GT class
Shelby Daytona Coupes raced in GT Division III, for engine displacements over 2000 cc. The Shelby Daytona Coupes, in their first year of competition, finished second (by 6 points) in GT III class for the 1964 World Sportscar Championship season. The Shelby Daytona Coupes won the GT III class (by 19 points) for the 1965 World Sportscar Championship season.
A list of the Daytona's most important victories:
1964 12 Hours of Sebring (GT class win, Dave MacDonald/Bob Holbert)
1964 24 Hours of Le Mans (GT class win, fourth overall, Dan Gurney/Bob Bondurant)
1964 RAC Tourist Trophy (GT class win)
1964 Tour de France Automobile (GT class win)
1965 24 Hours of Daytona (GT class win)
1965 12 Hours of Sebring (GT class win)
1965 Italian Grand Prix at Monza (GT class win)
1965 Nürburgring 1000 km (GT class win)
1965 12 Hours of Reims (GT class win, clinched 1965 World Sportscar Championship)
1965 Enna-Pergusa (GT class win)
1965 25 land speed records at Bonneville
After 1965 Ford focused on the GT40 program and the Daytona Coupes were retired, sold off, and some even became street cars for a time.
Below are some of my favorite photos of the Daytona Coupes I have been able to photograph, many are replicas of course, but they are still incredibly special cars and always a rarity at car shows.
