Movie Review; Ford vs. Ferrari

[edwardofhuncote]

I'm usually very late to the party on these things... the YouTube bots were determined I needed to see this one. See... I watched a clickbait video of a street race between a modern Ford GT and a Supra, and those little algorithms went to work showing me preview clips. I thought... what the heck, I know what happened anyway, I'll give it a rip.

Anyway, it's the legendary racing story of how Ford contracted Carroll Shelby to take on Enzo Ferrari's formidable team with ace driver Ken Miles as his test pilot, and the driving force behind perfecting the car that would do it. Even after Hollyweird took some dramatic liberties with historical accuracy, it was well-told. I thought the action was good, and parts didn't get over-cooked.

[gearhed289]

I loved it. I'm a lifelong Ford nerd. My dad was a mechanic at various Ford dealerships when I was growing up. I used to go to work with him in the summer (which would NEVER happen today!). I even walked the picket line with him when I was like 11, LOL! So yeah, I had to see this. What struck me the most was the way they captured the ART of driving. The passion Ken Miles had for it was the same as a musician trying to be and do their best. I have a little bit of on-track training, so it was very relatable.

[gtrguy]

I sat in a new GT-40 a couple years ago, or at least I tried to. Could not straighten up my head due to lack of headroom. Being tall can extract a price at times...

[lbpesq]

I saw it when it came out.  Very good film.  I loved the Ford GT since I had an HO Ford GT on my little slot car track back in the 60’s.

Bill, tgo

[edwardofhuncote]

My bucket-list is very short, getting shorter all the time... but after all these years, still on it is to take a Skip Barber class (for instance) and learn how to drive a road course correctly in a high-performance car. I had some pretty hot cars back in the days of my ill-spent youth, and fortunately the music bug bit harder, before I went and killed my fool self in one of 'em. Still... if I had a little bit of proper training...

I sat in a new Ford GT a few years ago. In a showroom. They wouldn't let me start it.

[lbpesq]

For many years I told myself I would get myself either a custom Alembic or an E-Type Jaguar for my 50th birthday.   Senior Management was far more amenable to the Alembic.   The coolest car I ever drove was a 1966 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2.   The coolest I ever sat in was a 1950s Mercedes 300SL Gullwing.   I currently have a 1993 Porsche 968 Cabriolet that is a blast to drive.

Bill, tgo

[cozmik_cowboy]

My bucket-list is very short, getting shorter all the time... but after all these years, still on it is to take a Skip Barber class (for instance) and learn how to drive a road course correctly in a high-performance car. I had some pretty hot cars back in the days of my ill-spent youth, and fortunately the music bug bit harder, before I went and killed my fool self in one of 'em. Still... if I had a little bit of proper training...

I sat in a new Ford GT a few years ago. In a showroom. They wouldn't let me start it.

I solved the kill-myself-in-a-car problem by getting a Triumph Spitfire.  Not only could I do the almost-mountain backroads back home faster overall than my redneck brother* & his gearhead friends whose dragstrip-inspired musclecars could do 90 mph in 1st, but couldn't take a turn at over 15, but it was rattlley enough that 55 felt really fast........


*An actual quote, in actual terror, with me holding it at a steady 50, straight or curve:  "J**** C*****, Hippie, slow this f****** thing down; you're scaring the s*** out of me!!"

Peter

[edwardofhuncote]

I loved it. I'm a lifelong Ford nerd. My dad was a mechanic at various Ford dealerships when I was growing up. I used to go to work with him in the summer (which would NEVER happen today!). I even walked the picket line with him when I was like 11, LOL! So yeah, I had to see this. What struck me the most was the way they captured the ART of driving. The passion Ken Miles had for it was the same as a musician trying to be and do their best. I have a little bit of on-track training, so it was very relatable.

I saved this picture for Tom... one of my race-car nut buddies sent it to me on Barbara's birthday last Tuesday... the car was a 1969 428 Cobra Jet Mach 1. She had it for 22 years. I had her picked for a red Corvette convertible type...

[gearhed289]

Nice. There's a few pics from that shoot floating around the innerwebs. My mom had a Acapulco blue '68 GT convertible big block in the 70s, and one of my sisters had a '69 Grande. I've had a '72, a '67 GTA, and currently a slightly modded '08 GT.

[bigredbass]

The two best racing movies?  Frankenheimer's GRAND PRIX and the Steve McQueen passion project, LEMANS. 

Both filmed in their day, with the drivers of the time (you'll see Phil Hill several times in GP, and even J-M Fangio) and their cars (fill in the blank that James Garner is driving a doppelganger for Honda), and the footage of the Great White Shark of endurance racing, the Porsche 917 in all its rage, and the Ferraris and other cars, both these movies are historically correct time capsules of a world of European racing that long gone, but not forgotten.

[gearhed289]

The two best racing movies?  Frankenheimer's GRAND PRIX and the Steve McQueen passion project, LEMANS.

It's been a lifetime since I've seen either one of those. I'm going to have to fix that. 

[gtrguy]

The original Gumball Rally was nice! I loved how it kept cutting back to the guys in the Jag trying to start their car.

[edwardofhuncote]

I re-watched Ford vs. Ferrari the other night to catch a few things I had missed. Watched with subtitles on. One of the funnier scenes was at pre-race inspection when Miles was arguing with an inspector over the trunk capacity requirement. At least part of that was rooted in truth; the AC Shelby Cobra roadster's trunk wasn't big enough to pass. So they 'modified it' with a hammer. That much is true.

...but I kinda' doubt it went down exactly like this. 

[matbard]

I don't want to hurt my fellow American friends, but...

The movie (as the myth does) of the "Ford Vs. Ferrari war" reaches the climax at the 1966 Le Mans, where Ford squadron defeated Ferrari. So the narration says: "Ford won the war!".

Few guys know the aftermath  :

[edwardofhuncote]

By golly, those Ferraris were some beautiful machines. What a time that must have been.