[Chuck]

Cute Fran!

Regarding the 'wings':

Picturess of the original GTs suggest that the fire wall was actually a double panel so that the rear was vertical and nearly flush with the back of the spider. A support brace then extended between the 'wings' beneath the rear window on the fire wall. On early cars a nice oval opening for ventilation was visible on the outer most portion of this panel and the fuel pumps and other hardware were mounted more inboard. At the top of the wing is a bracket which secures to the leading edge of the clip. I wanted to simulate these details, and asked Fran if the 'wings' could be fabricated. He did an excellent job. They are good solid pieces which look good and fit well.

The first GTs ducted air from the front, through the doors, and into the engine compartment through those oval openings on the outer portions of the 'wings.' It quickly became apparent that this ventilation system did not work as intended. In pics of some early cars one can see aluminum plates screwed over the vent openings. My plan is to place a 4" x 8" oval plate in that approximate location, to duplicate that affect, which will also give me access to the space behind the 'wing.' I may locate the MSD ignition box and a few other parts in that space to keep the overall engine compartment as clean as possible.

Please note that second picture of the wing is not in the final position - it is just for illustration.

The camera? An old Cannon power shot with the resolution set low enough to make pasting to this site painless. I almost never use the flash.