Ford v Ferrari (spoiler alert)

[XLR8]

Got the blu ray and watched it last night and I'm curious if any of our membership here has seen it.
I thought I knew the story but was surprised by some plot twists. Perhaps the film-makers have taken some artistic license in an effort to make a better movie, not sure.
We're all familiar with Lee Iacocca and Carroll Shelby but who has ever heard of Ken Miles? I hadn't before seeing the film but he was the real hero in this story and deserves to be remembered.
Anyway, if you've seen the film, chime in and give us your thoughts?

[RC10resto]

Never went to see that, but I did see this as I prefer Documentaries;

https://chassy.com/shop/24-hour-war/

[XLR8]

Fellow documentary junky here. Thank you for posting - I definitely want to see that one!!

[RC10resto]

And I would recommend the other two Docs on the bottom of that linked page

[Carknowledge101]

I saw it and it was awesome. I think it would be cool if someone recreated those cars as rc’s... just a thought.

[Coelacanth]

These days, anytime I see a movie that was "Inspired by true events" or "Based on a true story", I find that I have to actually research what was real and actually happened. I got that feeling watching Ford vs. Ferrari, though it was a very enjoyable movie. Parts in it just made me think, "No way that happened".

The Revenant was another like that, about the only thing that was factual in that movie was that a few of the characters existed in real life, but almost everything else except the bear attack probably didn't happen, and was only added to make the story interesting to movie-goers.

[Burniefloyd]

It hit the HBO rotation a little while back and I have seen it close to a dozen times from various start points in the movie. It was fun so I liked it.

I recently found a new HPI GT40 body that I am trying to choose a color scheme on. I would love to find one of those Ferrari bodies to go with it.

[Burniefloyd]

These days, anytime I see a movie that was "Inspired by true events" or "Based on a true story", I find that I have to actually research what was real and actually happened. I got that feeling watching Ford vs. Ferrari, though it was a very enjoyable movie. Parts in it just made me think, "No way that happened".

I do the same thing, always interested in what really happened. I know Wikipedia isn't the best source but starting there it looks like most of the Ken Miles story was real but I would guess the drama was probably embellished. He was winning LeMan's, did set the track record and would have won the triple crown but all 3 cars did cross together so Miles wasn't given the win.

[XLR8]

These days, anytime I see a movie that was "Inspired by true events" or "Based on a true story", I find that I have to actually research what was real and actually happened. I got that feeling watching Ford vs. Ferrari, though it was a very enjoyable movie. Parts in it just made me think, "No way that happened".

I do the same thing, always interested in what really happened. I know Wikipedia isn't the best source but starting there it looks like most of the Ken Miles story was real but I would guess the drama was probably embellished. He was winning LeMan's, did set the track record and would have won the triple crown but all 3 cars did cross together so Miles wasn't given the win.

Well stated, I agree.
I went into this not expecting a "documentary" but perhaps some level of entertainment based upon historical events I was familiar with. I wasn't disappointed.
I come from the 1960's and, for a car guy, it was an amazing time to be alive - so many incredible cars, automotive innovations, etc. - a magical time for sure. I recall seeing Grand Prix, Bullet and other iconic car movies for the first time as a kid and it sparked an interest in all things motorized that is still with me today.
Building an RC version of the GT40 Ken drove is a very interesting idea.

[GeneralZod]

I thought it was a well done movie. The actual Ken Miles LeMans GT40 car was at the Shelby American Collection right down the road from me. That car is all business and no roll cage! It may still be there but it has been several years since I visited. His Cobra Roadster is there listed in their collection. https://shelbyamericancollection.org/collection/

[shodog]

I’ve seen both Ford versus Ferrari and the 24 hour war. Both movies were killer. I didn’t know about Ken Miles so I was bummed about the ending of the film. The 24 hour war was super interesting. A definite watch.

[mikea96]

We went and saw it when it was first released and I thought it was a great movie. The shelby Cobra is one of my favorite cars.

[XLR8]

I thought it was a well done movie. The actual Ken Miles LeMans GT40 car was at the Shelby American Collection right down the road from me. That car is all business and no roll cage! It may still be there but it has been several years since I visited. His Cobra Roadster is there listed in their collection. https://shelbyamericancollection.org/collection/

It appears that Ken's GT40 was still on display at Shelby American Collection late in 2019.



Here's the finish at LeMans 1966. That's Bruce Mclaren's black car on the left taking the checkered flag and Ken's car is on the right. Ken slowed down just before the finish line allowing Bruce to move ahead. It appears that Mclaren won the race outright.

[CrazyRC]

I saw it in the theaters when it was released. I went with a friend who is in no way a car guy, and after the movie, he started asking questions about old racers and stuff. I thought it was a good movie. I knew the story, so I left to go to the bathroom before Ken Miles dies...

For the documentary people who haven't seen it yet Dust to Glory is a great one... the second movie, Dust 2 Glory is great IF you've seen the first one, but not as great as a standalone flick.

[HS-YZ250]

My girlfriend and I saw it in the theater and really enjoyed it. There was a fair amount of creative license taken with it, and added drama, but most of the real story is the engineering effort that went into the cars that would have bored most people to tears.

Shortly after watching it I came across this video about the 1965 Le Mans, which is only mentioned on the radio in the film, and usually gets glossed over in storytelling. https://youtu.be/iR8FP1_pjn0

I've watched this video a few times because I enjoy the guy's storytelling. He has a few other videos on that channel, and I recommend the shorter one about the Whittington Brothers, whose car is mentioned in the end of the above video. Most of the rest of the channel are guys talking about their exotic cars, which is pretty dull, but there are a couple of other good ones, like the founder of the 24 Hours of LeMons, Randy Pobst, and the guy who found General Lee 001 on a guy's farm in North Georgia.