Back in January, we ran a story about favorite racecars and asked RACER.com readers to select their top five. Your votes flooded in and, in the end, we had more than 400 different racecars to consider… but 10 clear favorites emerged.

Many of you had found it tricky to narrow your favorites down to just five, yet some of you had a clear No. 1 and no others. And, like ours, many of your selections were ones that fulfilled multiple criteria from a personal point of view – aesthetic beauty, period when you were first becoming addicted to racing, success, livery, piloted by your heroes. We understand, completely!

6. Ford GT40

An iconic shape, iconic brand, driven by iconic racers in a variety of iconic colors – it’s easy to see why the Ford GT40 scored so highly in our survey of RACER readers’ favorite racecars of all time.

Like its contemporary, the Lola T70 that finished just below it in reader votes, the Ford GT40 was a product of the anything-goes era of the 1960s. Also, like that car, it was built in England – at least in its first three incarnations before an all-American fourth version – although each incorporated significant American talent and know-how.

Originally named simply the “Ford GT,” the GT40 moniker was a combination of the Grand Touring category for which it was built and the car’s height of 40 inches. It was originally developed out of Henry Ford II’s zeal to beat Ferrari at Le Mans – a race the Italians had won six straight times from 1960 through ’65 – after Enzo Ferrari abruptly terminated negotiations with Ford for a potential sale of his company. War was on…

The Ford GT40 Mk I of Phil Hill and Bruce McLaren is worked on ahead of its race debut at the Nurburgring in 1964. It lasted just 15 laps.Ford considered partnerships with Lotus, Cooper and Lola before concluding a deal with the latter, and development of the Mk 1 was undertaken with Eric Broadley’s company while former Aston Martin team manager John Wyer was brought in to manage the project. Initial results proved disappointing, however, and Ford handed over control of the program to Carroll Shelby for 1965. The Shelby American GT40 team won on its first time out at Daytona with Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby at the wheel, but results remained elusive elsewhere that season.

In 1966, though, Ford and Shelby put it all together with the GT40 Mk II. Although very similar in appearance to the Mk I, the new car replaced the original 4.7-liter V8 with a 7.0-liter from the Ford Galaxie, as Shelby had used in his Cobras. Shelby American also modified the chassis significantly to accommodate the heavier powerplant, and a 4-speed gearbox from American supplier Kar Kraft replaced the Mk I’s ZF 5-speed unit. With Henry Ford in attendance, this car began an era of domination at Le Mans over its bitter rivals at Ferrari, along with everyone else.

Ironically, domination in 1966 brought controversy of its own, as Ford officials dithered over whether to issue team orders to their first- and second-placed cars as the race wound down. They eventually tried to stage-manage a tie, with the GT40s of Bruce McLaren/Chris Amon and Ken Miles/Denny Hulme crossing the line side by side (LEFT). However, the race organizers spoiled Ford’s plans by deciding that the difference in starting positions of the two cars would be taken into account at the finish – and since McLaren/Amon had started some 60ft behind Hulme/Miles, they were tabbed to be the winners!

Your favorite racecars #10: Porsche 956/962

Your favorite racecars #9: Chaparral 2K

Your favorite racecars #8: Lotus 49

Your favorite racecars #7: Lola T70

ABOVE: Gurney and Foyt en route to history at Le Mans in 1967, which remains the only truly all-American victory – drivers, team, chassis, engine and tires – at the 24 Hours. Note “bubble” in the roof to accommodate the helmet of 6ft.3in. Gurney!

Ford ruled the roost again in 1967 with its new GT40 Mk IV (the Mk III was a strictly road-going variant), which won on its debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring with Mario Andretti and Bruce McLaren. This immediately put Ford back in front of the endurance wars after works Ferrari 330P3/4s had swept to a 1-2-3 finish at the 24 Hours of Daytona against Ford’s Mk IIs. Then, at Le Mans, Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt dominated with their Mk IV, leading all but 90 minutes of the 24 hours in a race that demonstrated both the winners’ speed and savvy. The new model featured the same 7.0-liter Ford V8 but incorporated a NASCAR-style steel roll cage that, while enhancing safety, added considerable weight. Gurney developed a strategy of lifting off earlier for the braking zones which Foyt also adopted, helping to save the heavy car’s brakes and enabling them to rise above the foursome of Mk IVs.

The revamped Ickx/Oliver GT40 Mk I  leads its Hobbs/Hailwood stablemate and the Porsche 908s that it would beat to the overall victory at Le Mans in 1969. Worried about excessive speeds, Le Mans rule makers then banned the large-displacement engines and effectively the Mk IV, too, but the GT40’s reign would just take a different form, with John Wyer back at the helm. Wyer’s team took the car’s original 4.7-liter Mustang V8, bored it out to 4.9 liters with a special alloy Gurney-Weslake cylinder head, and installed it in a GT40 Mk I. This duly motored into Le Mans history as the first chassis to win the 24 Hours twice, both in classic Gulf colors albeit with different drivers (Pedro Rodriguez/Lucien Bianchi in 1968, and Jacky Ickx/Jackie Oliver in ’69). The latter victory, scored by just a few seconds over a Porsche 908, marked the last hurrah for the GT40 as Porsche’s new 917 was about to make it a museum piece.

And yet, decades later, the GT40 continues to stir the imaginations of gearheads the world over, a fact Ford underscored when it produced its exquisite Ford GT limited-production supercar of 2005 (LEFT). Although similar in appearance, the latter car was bigger, wider, and three inches taller than Ford’s iconic 40-incher of the ’60s.

Some of your comments…

John Lingle: “(Preferably in American racing colors a la the 1965 Daytona Continental winning #73. I also love the Matech GT1 version). My wife knows that if I ever win the lottery, my first purchase is a Ford GT or Ford GT40, depending only on which one I can find first. And my second purchase will probably be the other one. The looks and racing history behind the Ford GT40 program just make this car tough to beat in my book.”

D. Blane Newberry: “1966 Ford GT40 MkII – Tough, mean and beautiful in the way a tiger inches from sinking its claws into prey is beautiful.”

Scott Walschlager: “…in the Gulf paint job of blue and orange. This car and the portrayal of racing in pop culture are forever linked.”

David Land: “The result of an unlimited budget. The poster-child for what American auto racing stands for.”

Robert Fissel: “A true American legend.  A car built out of spite to beat the mighty Prancing Horse. The story behind this car is as great as its success. It won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four consecutive times, the first being a dominant 1-2-3 sweep of the podium (this, after a six-year run of dominance by Ferrari in that race). If this alone isn’t enough, the program was overseen by the great Carroll Shelby. To top it off, this car had the beautiful orange and blue livery, my personal favorite of all time.”

Donald Tolles: “1966 Ford GT40 Mark II, which won Le Mans.  That win made my friends and me very proud to be American.”

Erik Brinkmann: “American know-how; to show that when pushed the Yanks can WIN.”

Jerry Sudduth: “Simply a beautiful beast of a car that performed on track as well as it looked.”

Walter Wolentarski: “So many cars that I appreciate, but only one favorite — the Ford GT40, Mk I (preferably) or Mk II. I am absolutely taken with the clean and simple lines of the car (no wings, minimal aerodynamic add-ons). Besides the beauty, it had legendary success with a (relatively) simple American V8 in the back.”