In 1964, they tried running the Cobra Daytona Coupe as the "opening salvo" against Ferrari (during the GT40's troubled debut). They gave Ferrari a pretty good run, but lost some time due to minor mechanical failures. The Daytona Coupe was a true "shoestring" project by Shelby, who had a bit of a feud going with Enzo Ferrari even before Henry Ford, II did.
I think I like the Le Mans cars of that era the best. Beautiful cars. The ones from the 1950s are great too. Stirling Moss era.