I got this car today thinking it to be miss named by the manufacture. I does happen either by accident or design....Anyway it reads on the bottom 1969 Lesney, Matchbox "FORD Group 6." The reason I got it is the rear end looked like something I'd seen in a photo back in the '60's at LeMans. Maybe an Alfa, BRM, Renault or maybe even a long tailed Porsche. It's none of these. So my questions are these: 1. Was this an actual prototype produced by FORD? 2. If so are there any photos? Preferably in color? 3. Did it ever race? I saw the one posted awhile back the guy that had stripped and polished. Looked goooood. That's what led me to this board. Looks like something I might like to come back to from time to time. Any help would be appreciated.

Group 6 was a racing class for GT cars. Ferrari, Ford, Jaguar, Mercedes, Porsche, etc had Group 6 cars that competed at Le Mans, etc.

Yea. I recall that. I always referred to them as "prototypes." At that time they had no displacement limits on the engines. I just don't remember this car. Thanks for the flashback.

Thanks to the contributors. The Lesney FORD Group 6 car is (drum roll please............................................ .......) A FORD P68 AKA a FORD F3L. It was to be a replacement for the Ford GT. Produced by Alan Mann. Once I found what I was dealing with, several sites came up with color pics. The car was campaigned in '68 and '69 evidently without too much success.
Thanks Ya'll

Hello,

Welcome to the board! :wave:

Try to stick around--there's a lot of knowledgeable folks here and most are all too willing to help. You really will enjoy it here. Lurk around a bit more and check the other forums out. I mostly play on the Slot car board. I really don't collect much D-C's anymore.

I'm sorry for the delay in responding, as I was trying to sift through some old articles to give you a little more history on it--which you've already found. I don't get over to these parts that often and was just browsing when I saw your posts.

Thanks you for the comps' on the polished version I did.

This type car indeed raced in England, Germany and other parts of Europe, also as you found out, I believe at least one was actively campaigned for two years and was expected to replace the Ford GT. I recall handling being somewhat of an issue. The European classes were based as groups and numbered as opposed to today's lettering, except for the minor/lesser classes. Prototype would be a good description, because it was a private design with factory support That would be Ford of England. It would have competed against cars like the Matra, Chevron, Lola etc, in the Group-6 class with biases towards weight verses cubic displacement. I would have to dig up some old reference's, but I'm almost sure this car, at one time was also equipped with a 427 (probably for testing purposes).

Cheers!

As I said My diecasts are "models." I use them for my art work. The stickers on the cars are more or less just shapes....for now. Hopefully in the near future I'll have a dedicated printer so I can print decals. "Little, bitty, teeny, tiny, decals. At that point I'll redo all of theses cars and hooefully it'll be hard to tell them from the real ones, in a photo. This is the finished...for now... P68. I certainly appreciate the help. I thought I knew all the variants of the FORD Prototype program from the FORD / Lola GT to the MkIV. This was a new one on me. I guess this was the last variant, making the program go out not with a bang but a whimper.

very nice!!

Checked out your site....Kinda takes the search out of the search. That's a good thing.

Just a diecast sports car collectin' nut enjoying this old post, good to see such knowledge being disseminated!

I finally got got a Testor decal kit and remade the sponsor decals. I'll post another pic of the car some time soon; after I get the rest of the protos and Can Ams done. I'll make a comparrison between the hand painted sponsor and the decals.

Clear Hooter, as a vintage sportscar fan, I look foward to seeing the Ford G6, and did you say Can-Am's? Tell me more! Are you familiar with the diecast company Polistil, back in the mid 70s they did a club 33 line that had a few can-am cars. If there is interest, I might post a few pics of the ones I have.

The '50's and '60's and early to mid '70's were the greatest periods in racing that have ever been as far as I'm concerned. You could tell one car from another just by looking at them. Engines were unlimited...At least until FORD killed everything at LeMans and the French wimped out and changed the rules. Hmmm imagine that.

We spent many a week-end at Road Atlanta, Danville and Charlotte watching Can Ams and SCCA racing. If there's no one else on this board that loves those old cars I do. I just got a set of decals done for a couple of projects that have been on the table waiting. Like I said I'll do a comparrison post of the hand painted vs the decals soon. A lot of my Can-Ams and protos have already been put up on post in the "Die-cast Costomizing" section. Although I really don't consider taking a RLHW and bringing it to race specs "customizing." I hesitate to repost them for fear of being redundant. By all means lets see some of the Can-Ams you have. :thumbsup:

I saw the Mclaren and cheetah roadster on the customizing board, all I can say is wow! Will post the polistil can-am cars/endurance racers real soon, as it is too late to start taking pics!