1969 Le Mans-winning Ford GT40 expertly recreated as a 1:8 scale model by Amalgam Collection

Ford fans will certainly be familiar with the GT40, which was the race car that humbled Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, securing four back-to-back victories at the famous endurance race from 1966 to 1969.

The last win for the GT40 in 1969 saw Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver being behind the wheel of the No.6 car (chassis #1075) that wore the iconic Gulf livery, and to pay tribute to the winning race car, Amalgam Collection has launched a new 1:8 scale model that looks simply stunning.

Only 199 examples will be produced, with each one being hand-built by a small team of craftspeople, taking over 400 hours to complete. Amalgam says the finished model consists of thousands of precisely engineered parts, including castings, photo-etchings and CNC machined metal components.

Amalgam worked closely with the Ford Archive and Heritage department as well as Gulf Oil International to ensure that every detail of the No.6 race car is accurately recreated in scaled form. This took 24 months of deep research and intense development work, with over 4,000 hours invested to develop the model to its current state.

All this work does come at a price, and the amount Amalgam is asking for is USD13,027 (RM55,267). That is certainly a lot of money – you can buy a full-spec Perodua Myvi for the amount – but the end product looks like the real deal, which is a challenge when it comes to scale models.

For a bit of backstory, in the early 1960s, Henry Ford II wanted a Ford to race at Le Mans and received word that Enzo Ferrari was interested in selling his cash-strapped company to Ford. However, Ferrari could not agree to the terms set by Ford, and he decided to cancel the deal at the very last minute.

This angered Ford, who ordered his racing division to build a race car to put the Italians in their place. The car that resulted was the GT40, and this tale was retold in the 2019 sports drama film Ford v Ferrari.