FIA Diecast 1962 to 1965

From 1962 to 1965, the FIA called the top series the International Championship for GT Manufacturers. Prototypes did race, but only at Sebring, LeMans, Nurburging and the Targa Florio. The GT championship was the only really important series, and Ferrari proudly dominated with their 250 GTO.

1963 saw the arrival of the Shelby Cobra, the quintessential American sports Car.

Chevrolet also got into road racing by developing the Corvette 'Grand Sport'. While it looked like a normal corvette, this car was actually one of the first GTP's. It had little in common with the production version, and GM sold the 5 cars to top-level privateers.

1963

International Championship for GT Manufacturers 1963
Place	Car Sponsor	Car # Class	Model	Ref. #	Image
1	Lotus 19B Climax Dan Gurney	96 S 2.5	Spark	S0256
			Top Model ('Gold')	030
2	Ferrari Dino 246 SP Phil Hill Ricardo Rodriguez	1 S 2.5	Art Model	ART068
Tourist Trophy
1	Ferrari 250 GTO Graham Hill	11 GT 3.0	Box	8409
Tour de France
1	Ferrari 250 GTO José Behra Pierre Noblet	165 GT+2.0	Bang	7291

1964

International Championship for GT Manufacturers 1964
Place	Car Sponsor	Car # Class	Model	Ref. #	Image
Targa Florio
8	Shelby Cobra 'Goodyear' Dan Gurney Allan Grant	146 GT+3.0	Bang	423
Tour de France
7	Alfa Romeo TZ1 Jean Rolland Gabriel Augias	150 GT 1.6	Best	9074

1965

The year 1965 was the end of the classic GTIII era. Shelby took the championship over Ferrari, who had abandoned the GT class to concentrate on prototypes. It was also the last year of the legendary Reims 12 hours, which began at 11PM and lasted through the night. The ruins of the pits, scoreboard, and grandstands are still on the side of the same country road in the beautiful Champagne reigon of France. The GT cars were road-legal, displayed license plates, and drove themselves to the event.

Prototypes also ran at Monza, and the manufacturers interest shown by Ford, Porsche, and Chevrolet prompted the FIA to include prototypes at all events in 1966.

International Championship for GT Manufacturers 1965
Place	Car Sponsor	Car # Class	Model	Ref. #	Image
Reims
5	Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe Bob Bondurant Jo Schlesser	26 GT+3.0	Kyosho	KO3051C