Little Red Corvette from the Movie Ford v Ferrari a.k.a Le Mans ’66

Aug 3

July 2020 • By Tony Thacker with Randy Richardson, photos by Nestor Cabrera, Randy Richardson and Tony Thacker

I’m not sure why anybody would think differently but the Los Angeles Times and several other publications recently headlined, “Classic Cars in ‘Ford v Ferrari’ aren’t what they seem….”

What did they expect? The LA Times is based in Los Angeles and if you know anything about LA and the movie business you’ll know that nothing is real in this town so why would you expect the cars to be any different?

Hagerty.com, with the help of TorqTalk friend Randy Richardson got it right, saying, “Most of the cars are fiberglass mock-ups built on entirely unrelated chassis, and some feature only mock, sheet-metal engines.”

In the early scenes the ’Vette was painted blue and liveried with Washburn Chevrolet, Santa Barbara. In fact, the livery was copied from a ’63 raced by Bob Bondurant without particular success. Photos Randy Richardson.

Well, they were right about this ’64 Corvette, it’s fiberglass all right, but then it came from the factory that way.

To supply the vehicles for the movie, also known in Europe as ‘Le Mans ’66’ the production company turned to race-car-replicas.com, Frasier, MI, and California’s Superformance.com in Irvine, to build recreations of models such as the Shelby Cobra and the Ford GT40 that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966.

The ’Vette, however, is real, it’s not a replica and Randy owned it for a while, however, he recently listed it on BringATrailer.com. Here’s what the description said:

“This 1964 Chevrolet Corvette coupe was purchased in 2018 by the Hollywood Car Company for use in the 2019 film Ford v Ferrari. This particular Corvette reportedly was one of two C2 coupes used in racing scenes; it was first painted blue and outfitted with a Washburn Chevrolet/Bob Bondurant livery for the Willow Springs scenes, and then it was repainted red with a Roger Penske Chevrolet livery for the 24 Hours of Daytona scenes. After the movie was released, the Hollywood Car Company sold off many of the vehicles used in the film, and this car was obtained in 2019 by the seller, who reportedly assisted in finding buyers for other cars used in the movie. The car retains its red Penske livery and is powered by a replacement 350ci V-8 mated to a four-speed manual transmission. The seller has installed a Holley four-barrel carburetor, an HEI distributor, Koni shocks, front coil springs, Doug’s Headers side pipes, and a 14″ steering wheel. The car also features front disc brakes, a 12-gallon fuel cell, and four-point seatbelts. This C2 Corvette is now offered with an uninstalled 15″ woodgrain steering wheel, removed bumpers, a document certifying that the car was used in the film, and a clean California title in the seller’s name.”