Ford v Ferrari Tells the Tale of Two Iconic Friends of American Motorsport [REVIEW]

2019 marks the 50^th anniversary of Ford’s fourth first-place finish in a row on the rippled, torn and unforgiving Circuit de La Sarthe during the 24 Hours. of Le Mans. The country roads bordered by grandstands, spectators and several centuries-old hedgerows have not seen a battle as fierce as the fight between Enzo Ferrari and Henry Ford II since World War II.

This seems like a fitting year to make a car movie honoring the people who made some of the greatest motor racing history of all time happen. Carroll Shelby and his good friend Ken Miles are sadly not with us anymore to tell their own stories. Were Matt Damon and Christian Bale’s impressions of these heroes of American motorsports enough to immortalize them on the big screen?  

Ford v Ferrari isn’t just another Fast and Furious movie with lots of ridiculously loud cars with bright paint jobs driven by overly masculine men supported by weaker female roles.

Oh, wait.

Seriously, though, Ford v Ferrari is at least a little more tasteful if not less sexist, and while it’s no excuse for the perpetuation of sexism on screen, this movie does take place during a time when sexism was more normalized.  The cars are a little classier than lime-green Mitsubishis with Lambo-doors, the driver’s gear shifting is more realistic and the whole thing doesn’t promote street racing or stealing as much.

Ford v Ferrari doesn’t really deserve to be compared to the Fast and Furious franchise either. This movie tells the true story of two automotive titans duking it out on the blacktop battlegrounds of France for sheer pride using the fastest sportscars (and sport cars) the world had ever seen.

Director James Mangold did a great job of staying true to the authenticity of the cars featured in the movie. Obviously, there are serious budget constraints when dealing with such precious metals as Le Mans-winning GT40’s and literally non-existent Ferrari 330 P3s. Shelby’s shop gets progressively larger as the pockets he borrows from get deeper, and the 289 Cobra’s that litter the shop floor grow just as fast.  

However, among the gorgeous 289s, 427s, Daytonas and prototype GT40s inside the converted airplane hangar Shelby used as a shop and testing headquarters was one blue Daytona coupe wearing a set of wheels that had to be at least 17 inches. This, next to the period correct 15-inch wheels of all 1960s Shelby Cobras, clearly marked it out as most likely a Factory Five reproduction and not an original Shelby. The most recent original, one-of-six Shelby Daytonas that I can remember being sold was Shelby chassis CSX2601, which sold for $7.25 million in 2009, or nearly a quarter of the film’s premiere weekend revenue, $31.5 million.  

Considering the price of buying even just the cars that started but never finished the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, if it was even possible since many of those cars do not exist anymore or are in museums, would bankrupt most multi-millionaires, the fact that there are some discrepancies in the accuracies of the cars and driving is understandable. With that said, a difference of 2 inches in the diameter of a wheel on one car in a film dedicated to cars seems like splitting hairs.   

Many of the exterior driving shots are done with special effects, but they didn’t feel like they detracted from the overall authentic feel of the movie or the story being told. Obviously, nobody can create a 330 P3 as beautiful as Ferrari could in 1966, but the cars on the screen are certainly not ugly.  

The true authenticity of the film lies in the way the story was told and the icons of motorsports represented by the actors. Shelby was a great driver and smooth-talking salesman with less than ethical business practices, but as Shelby and his friend Miles know firsthand, ethics don’t win races. Shelby and his motley crew of speed junkies lived and loved to win races, but Henry “The Deuce” Ford II lived and loved his father’s Ford Motor Co. 

Matt Damon adds the role of Carroll Shelby to his list of real people he’s accurately portrayed on screen. Either someone did a very good job of studying the countless hours of interviews Shelby has done with documentarians and other media, or Damon himself did the research because from my perspective, Damon nailed the lead role.

Ken Miles in real life was an eccentric racing driver with a knack for pissing off wealthy people who might’ve wanted to offer him some money or cars had his temper been more controlled. That honestly sounds a lot like Christian Bale’s real life besides the whole lack of getting paid part. Bale does an outstanding job of characterizing one of the greatest unsung heroes of motorsports history.

Shelby American was the real winner of the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans over Ferrari, not Ford.

In the early 1960’s Ford Motor Co. wanted to increase sales in the face of a General Motors sales boom. Brands like Chevrolet were enjoying increased interest in their cars as fast and sporting due to successes like Zora Duntov’s secret-from-Chevrolet Corvette racing program that just couldn’t stop winning races despite General Motor’s strict anti-racing policy of the time.  

Ford needed something to draw in the young people, something exciting like a sport car. Ferrari made the best sportscars in the world and just so happened to be bankrupt and in desperate need of cash. The problem was that the crass suits at Ford couldn’t seem to make a deal allowing old man Ferrari to keep full autonomous control of his racing department that bankrupted him and landed him at a table with some of the least interesting Americans he ever met in the first place. Ferrari angerly hurled some curses at the suits and left for some food.  

Enzo Ferrari, much like his competitors across the pond, built his car company around winning races and building the fastest cars in the world. During this time, Ferrari spent almost every lira he had to ensure that nobody could touch the red cars from Modena around the old La Sarthe circuit. Through the 1960’s nobody could touch the materialized dreams of Enzo at Le Mans.

Except for Texan Carroll Shelby.

In 1964, Ford Motor Co. contracted the last American to win at Le Mans in 1959, Carroll Shelby, to take control of their Le Mans program because he knew what it took to win the mother of all endurance races. Along the way to his team’s accomplishment of being the only American-made car to win overall at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, they encounter a number of speed bumps in the form of marketing decisions, corporate politics and gigantic egos.

If you don’t know how this story ends, you should wait and see Ford v Ferrari instead of Googling it. There will never be another time when the explosions from seven-liter Ford V8-engines echoes off the elegantly curved red bodywork of arguably the most beautiful Ferrari ever created. This movie is as close as most of you will ever get to experience what it was like to build American race cars, race at Le Mans in the 1960’s and be a privateer racing driver like Ken Miles.

The two-and-a-half-hour runtime is worth it just to learn how this tale of two friends who got to live their dreams in the fast lane and carve their names into the tarmac of history ends.