Ford tried to buy Ferrari in 1964, just from recall. Old man Enzo is the one who killed the deal, and the Ford family member took it personally (Henry Ford II or Edsel, I don't remember). The innovation, and the cars that ended up beating Ford were not engineered in house at Ford: the Daytona Coupe and the Cobras came from Carroll Shelby, and the first 3 versions of the GT40 came from England. Only the last version came from the US, and it did win Lemans in 1967, the Mark II won in 1966, and the Mark I in 1968 and 1969.
Ford probably has more V8 engine families than all of the other manufacturers combined. They even had multiple families in production at the same time (Cleveland and Windsor small blocks), as well as some super exotic engines (427 "Cammer" and Side-Oiler, 429 "Shotgun"). Some truly questionable logic at play there. Innovative, yest, logical, not so much.
Ford is the only US car company to not even ask for bail out money, as greymouser said.
Kostas