Carroll Shelby never took Henry Ford II for a joyride in a GT40. As much as we wish this was true, it just never happened. In the film, Carrol Shelby takes Henry Ford II for a joyride in his creation, which results in the industry giant bursting into a mixture of sobbing and laughter.
No. The true story of Ford v Ferrari reveals that Ken Miles (Christian Bale's character) took Ford on a wild trip. There is no evidence of Ford crying, which is a work of fiction. Shelby also never locked Leo Beebe in a room while Ford was being driven about.
In one scene of the “Ford v Ferrari,” he takes a ride inside one of the GT40 racing cars that Damon's Carroll Shelby had built. While Letts' character says, he was born ready, ready for the speed he was not. At the end of the scene, he is left crying in the passenger seat of the car.
Carroll Shelby never bet Henry Ford II his entire business so that Ken Miles could drive at Le Mans. Ford's right hand Leo Beebe (portrayed by Josh Lucas) did object to risks that Ken Miles took on the track, but the tension between Shelby and Beebe in the movie is significantly dramatized.
At Le Mans and in the middle of the race, Carroll steals all of the Ferrari team's stopwatches; he also drops a lug nut near their pit area, a subterfuge he hopes will prompt the panicked team to tell a car to pit in order to check the wheels. (The ploy, played for humor, doesn't yield Shelby's desired result.)
Shelby himself had already developed a kind of rivalry with Ferrari himself, having been beaten by them in various races. He had his own motivation to fuel him toward the win at Le Mans. Still, Carroll Shelby would need a trusted confidante and skilled racer to help propel the Ford team toward victory.
Of course, the race didn't go according to plan. We see in the movie that Miles was forced to pit after just one lap because his door wouldn't close properly. That really happened too. McLaren and Amon's car then had tire problems, and McLaren famously shouted to Amon, “go like hell” and surpass the agreed-upon pace.
As for Shelby's relationship with Miles, Shelby could be a sentimentalist about his friend and colleague, but as difficult as Miles really could be, their friendship does not seem to have included a fight in which Miles threw a wrench at Shelby, leading to Shelby having that wrench framed.
Ford had finally, and very publicly, beaten Ferrari. After more than 3,000 miles averaging speeds of around 130 miles-per-hour, Ford took all 1966 podium honors at Le Mans. Having slowed to accommodate the Ford finish decision, the Miles team finished slightly behind the McLaren team.
Miles won the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1966, and he placed second at Le Mans. Miles died in a crash while testing Ford's J-Car later that year. British-born Ken Miles was a gifted race car engineer and driver. Through his work for Carroll Shelby, Miles got involved in Ford's GT racing program.
Shelby and Miles were both headstrong, incredibly intense and brilliant guys. There's no doubt that they butted heads on a very regular basis, and the film certainly alludes to that. But there is no evidence they ever had a physical altercation. Turn 5: Ford executives drank in Pit Row after winning Le Mans in 1966.
After graduating high school, Carroll Shelby enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942. He soon earned his wings and was commissioned a second lieutenant. It was the practice in World War II of the Air Corps to keep the best pilots in the USA to train others. Although Shelby requested it, he never went into combat.
In the closing clip, Shelby takes Ford for a spin in the GT40 racecar and appears to scare the executive so badly that he screams and breaks down in tears.
When most people think of Ford performance, the name Shelby comes to mind. The late Carroll Shelby – Texas chicken farmer-turned race car driver then race team manager and car builder – has long been credited with helping Ford create the first high-performance Mustang.
A number of people — English speaking racing drivers and journalists and others who knew Ferrari quite well — maintain that he understood every word of English even though he only spoke Italian. That's not true. He neither spoke nor understood English; but he did speak French.
Ferrari a true story? Many details in the Ford vs. Ferrari movie are true and give us a glimpse into the rivalry between Ford and Ferrari back then. Details in the movie include Ford's determination to win the 1966 Le Mans after half a decade of Ferrari dominance.
Bruce McLaren, Henry Ford II, and Chris Amon on the victory stand at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. As reported by Manney, and as seen in photos, Miles intentionally braked at the finish to let McLaren pass at the checkered flag signifying the finish taken at about 50 mph.
And since the Ford car driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon started the race eight meters (roughly 60 feet) behind Miles (who was in the pole position), Miles is declared the second place driver. But how close does the film's depiction of Le Mans '66 match with the real life events? Pretty close, as it turns out.
A strong personality – "All those years before Shelby American, we knew him as kind of a hothead, but it never showed up during the years he was with me." A singular character – "Ken was very unique for me. It seemed like he created a hell of a lot of controversy before he came to work for me at Shelby American.
1966 was an epic year for racing. The determined Carroll Shelby (1932-2012) raced in the 34th Grand Prix of Endurance in Le Mans, France over the course of two days-- with one goal in mind, beating a Ferrari with a Ford.
The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is controlled by the Ford family; they have minority ownership but the majority of the voting power.
For more than three decades, Ford has been embroiled in controversies over the environmental impact of its vehicles, and it long resisted higher federal standards for fuel economy. In 1973 the company was fined $7 million for falsifying tests results submitted to the federal government on emissions testing.
So Ford had won at Le Mans in 1966, even though the ACO's reaction to Ford's plan to dead heat the finish meant Ken Miles was robbed of the chance to become the first person to win the Daytona 24 Hours, Sebring 12 Hours and Le Mans 24 Hours in the same year.
