In 1965, a decision was made by the Ford racing division to build a lighter version of the GT40 and central to the project would be a honeycomb aluminium chassis bonded in layers. Construction was carried out by the military division of the Brunswick Corporation and it would be the first time such a chassis would be used in a race car.
The resulting chassis weighed half that of the current GT40 but it came with problems such as how to attach the suspension components. An order was placed for twelve chassis and the first was built into a prototype J-Car (built to FIA Appendix J regulations), referred to as J-1. This was completed in March 1966 and briefly driven by Bruce McLaren at Fords Dearborn test track prior to being delivered to Shelby American. The photograph shows the car undergoing four days of testing at the Riverside circuit from 15th to 18th March where it was driven by Ken Miles and Bruce McLaren prior to being shipped to Le Mans for the test weekend held at the beginning of April prior to the 24-Hour race in June. Ford decided not to test the aerodynamics of the car in a wind tunnel, opting to made any modifications necessary by changing body panels. J-1 is shown with the ill-fated ‘pickle-fork’ nose design and the long flat roof-line that gave it the nickname ‘The Breadvan’. However, the car proved disappointing and following a further test session in May, J-1 was dismantled and the J-Car project put on hold in order to concentrate on the MkII version of the GT40.
