Photo:Reddit”

Theres a lot of hype around a rare barn find. Its a dream that haunts many collectors and enthusiasts, but acquiring such a find, is not only next to impossible, it’s rarely cheap. There was a guy named Tom Shaughnessy who, in 2014, stumbled across a unicorn in a pig-pen. He found a Ford car crammed into a California garage, covered by junk and buried beneath boxes of rubbish. Only its door was exposed was exposed and it bore the name Salt Walther on the side.

Photo:Reddit

This isn’t just any Ford, it was an uber rare Ford GT40. Its chassis bore No. 1067, and while it appears to lack the racing pedigree of some other GTs, it is among the rarest. The World Registry of Cobras & GT40s says it is just one of three GT40 MkI cars to come with the MkII’s rear clamshell, and of those three, it is the only survivor. Furthermore, it was the last GT40 to be produced in 1966 and was the last GT40 to use a Ford serial number—all subsequent GT40s wore the serial numbers of J.W. Automotive Engineering.

All pretty awesome things so far, huh?

After a year-long bidding war, Shaughnessy took possession of the GT40 CSX1067 from its previous owner, a retired fire fighter who owned the car since 1975. The GT40 sat idle since 1977 due to engine troubles. Compiled with health problems of the owner, the once pristine car never got the necessary repairs.

The Salt Walther Background Story

Photo:Reddit

How did the car bearing the name of Salt Walther get into this garage? Lets look back at the man behind the name.

Born as David Walther in 1947, “Salt” came from a family of Ohio steel magnates and began racing powerboats and USAC sprint cars during the late 1960s. His playboy persona never meshed with Champ Car fans (while ties to the St. Petersburg Yacht Club did him few favors in the paddock) and Walther saw little success during his competitive career.

To this day, he’s best remembered for colliding with Jerry Grant during the 1973 Indianapolis 500, triggering a horrific, fiery pile-up near the starting line. With burns covering 40 percent of his body, Walther developed an addiction to painkillers while recuperating from the crash at the Brickyard. Though he went on to race again in Champ Car (in addition to brief stints in both NASCAR Winston Cup and CART during the 1980s), Walther never could shake his drug dependency. Following five years as a fugitive on the run, he died in December 2012 shortly after being apprehended by police.
There’s no record of Salt Walther ever racing the recently-uncovered GT40, his father George was a rabid collector of competition cars—many of which he passed on to his son. Amazingly, the family also owned another GT40 (chassis P/1005, a Le Mans veteran) that was also discovered under extraordinary conditions and remains controversial. As the story goes, Walther’s garage burned down at some point and P/1005 was simply bulldozed over along with the remaining debris, only to be found poking through the mud years later.

Lets Tie It All Together

GT40 P/1067 rolled out of the Ford Advanced Vehicles factory in Slough, England on December 23, 1966. One archived FAV workshop photo shows an opalescent silver-blue GT40 (unconfirmed) as P/1067 sitting beside another GT40. Though it’s a standard 289ci MkI-spec car, P/1067’s MkII tail sections were factory-optioned, and it was sold to one Doug Schulz in Elmwood Park, Illinois. Four years later, the car was acquired locally by Jim Scott, who added Halibrand wheels and had P/1067 repainted in a yellow/black scheme.

Photo:Reddit

Ownership of the canary-colored Ford was transferred to Harley Cluxton (who at one time was also in possession of GT40 P/1074, a camera car for Steve McQueen’s Le Mans) in Glenville, Illinois circa July 1972. George Walther, father of troubled race driver Salt Walther, purchased P/1067 and made it up as a semi-replica of the Daytona-winning MkII, with competition roundel wheels and No. 98 racing numbers.

The car is now being fully restored. When Shaughnessy was asked about the cost of the car he just said, it ends in “illion” plus.

Here are photos from the day it was hauled out of the garage in 2014.

Photo:Thegentlemanracer

Photo:Thegentlemanracer

Photo:Thegentlemanracer

Photo:Thegentlemanracer

Photo:Thegentlemanracer

Photo:Thegentlemanracer

Time for a Restoration

An important aspect of Shaughnessy’s restoration process is realizing where the restored car could be shown, raced, or displayed once it is completed, and then taking the necessary steps to ensure that the car will perform as desired at those outlets.
“I’ve been done this so many times with well-respected cars that a mental flowchart is what keeps the job in line,” notes Shaughnessy. “If I know I have the right people and time to source what we need when we need it, then roadblocks are nonexistent.”

Photo:robbreport

Photo:robbreport

Photo:robbreport

Photo:robbreport

Photo:robbreport

Photo:robbreport

Photo:robbreport

Epilogue:

“I’m always looking for the best example of a car that I can afford, but when you’re restoring a car, if it’s a famous car, you have no choice but to restore it to the way it looked in that famous race, and then you might be afraid to do anything with it.”

Shaughnessy says he plans to restore P/1067 to either the original light metallic blue, or the as-raced yellow and black. Either way, he says he’ll put plenty of miles on it once it is running. “I drive all my cars. I have no room in my garage for Easter eggs.”

Here is the what the finished project should look like:

OG Photo from many years ago of the car in working order. Photo:GT40s.com