Reply Chris Melia & Chris Notley

[Andre40]

Hi Chris Melia and Chris Notley.

Chris M you have figured out what’s being planned. I’m friendly with the owner and his staff but as I agreed to a restraint of trade on the GT40 for five years when I left CAV at the end of March, 2001, I can’t be involved. In fact my input isn’t required as production volumes and distribution have already been planned and arranged.

I am however discussing, with the same company, the possibility of building a precise copy of another car from that era. This will be on a joint venture basis and once again I can’t reveal anything more at this stage as we are negotiating name use and approval by the company.

Due to the phenomenal growth of classic racing we believe that there will be an increasing demand for ‘rivet for rivet’ copies of cars like the GT40. In fact it’s now Sunday evening and I’ve just returned (sunburnt!) from the Killarney circuit where there was a full day of classic car and bike racing. It was a great day and there were Ferraris, GT40s, Chevrons, Porsches, Lolas, Lotus Sevens, 1960s single seaters and a huge field of saloon cars. You couldn’t wipe the smiles off the faces of the older boys, ie the 50s to 70s age group.

Sadly Nigel Hulme’s Lola T70 MK111B suffered engine problems in practice and was out for the day. Piper’s Ford F3L had brake problems and was also out. In the first heat the ex-John Surtees Lola T70 spyder went like greased lightning but the tail flew off and got badly damaged. Not a good day for the star cars.

Apart from the many Cobra, GT40 and Lotus Seven replicas being built, Andrew Keiller in Australia is building a beautiful Porsche 917, Barrie Martin is building a Porsche 904 at Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire, a friend in Cape Town built a stunning Chevron B8 and Neil Foreman builds a Ferrari P4 in the UK. In fact one of his cars raced at Killarney today, powered by a Lamborghini V12 and driven my Max Wakefield of Castrol Oil fame. In July last year I visited Franco Sbarro in Switzerland and he also has a set of moulds, chassis jigs and tooling for the P4. In fact we collectively have so much on the table already that we could start an international classic replica race series. David Piper and his fellow drivers love coming to Cape Town. They go to the beach, visit wine farms, go up Table Mountain and so on. As in this case an international classic series could give us the opportunity to visit one another’s countries and have a bit of fun. If anyone out there thinks it’s a good idea why don’t we get the ball rolling. It’ll take a huge amount of organising but it could be worth the effort.

Chris N you are right about the financial benefits of building cars in SA.
In my report – ‘CAV – the true story’ you’ll see that when I visited GTD in November, 1991 the rand traded at 4,8 to the pound sterling. Today it’s 14 to one and about a year ago it went right down to about 18. But when we visit you, boy do we suffer! For example, a year ago I had a meeting at Harrods and parked in the nearby underground car park in Cadogan Square. Three hours cost me the equivalent of R175. In Cape Town centre I would pay about R15.

I’ve seen the Noble M12 production facility. It’s stunning.

Regards,
Andre 40

[Chris Melia]

Hi Andre
well if I were to replicate a car from the 1960s that could be raced and road driven just like the GT40 then I would choose the 1966 Porsche 906 (Carrera 6).
This is about the best looking Porsche of all and what's even better about it you get to use a 911 as the downer car. Anything that gets rid of 911s is OK with me.
On my trip to Arizona thanks to Gordon Levy, I got to see a privately owned car collection, a 906 was amongst the amazing cars in the collection.
I don't know of anyone that has replicated the 906 yet but its just got to happen.
Regards,
Chris






[ February 02, 2003: Message edited by: Chris Melia ]

[Chris Melia]

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

Hmmmn......I was made aware of the GT40 plans
of the "largest replica manufacturer" some time ago...made it hard to keep the secret. If it is HALF as good as I was told the GT40 community will VERY pleased in the near future.

Whilst my business dealings with this entity did not come to fruition, I am excited to think that many will soon have access to a real accurate GT40 for a very fair price.

As Tiny Tim said, "God bless us very one..."

Plan on extra time to bring every horsepower out of your Ford engine to make this chassis rock!

Rick

[ February 03, 2003: Message edited by: Mark IV ]

[Datonabill]

Chris M, You are right on about the 906.In 1977 I had one in my shop for some fiberglass repair and thought long and hard about casting a mould off the body. The problem was the windshield. It was a lot of money back then to get glass made. I still think the 906 would make a great kit car.
After reading Andre 40's post, I'm ready to move to Cape Town SA.

[Chris Melia]

Hi Bill
What a shame you decided against taking a mould of the 906, If anyone knows of one or has one then shout out about it.
With any luck Andre might makes this his next project.
Chris

[JayT]

Chris, I am with you the 906 is beautiful.

[Datonabill]

Mike DD . I almost start to cry when I think about the T 70 I almost bought in 1973. It belonged to a Denis Gilbert Penn. He had it up for sale in Autoweek.. $6500.00 with a spare Traco 327 / dyno report stappled to the crate. It was an ex-Donahue car. I remember being a little disapointed because it didn't have pin drive wheels. I was out of money from buying a new van, trailer & building my Lotus into an SCCA racer. What gets me... is..I knew then that the car would be worth something someday.

[MK -IV J6]

In 73 I did buy an ex Donohue T70 for 6500.
Still have it.

[Gregg]

I agree that the 906 is a beautiful car however I think the Mark IV is more striking and sleeker and that would be my choice for the next car to replicate.

[Mike Dozier]

The 906 is definitely a pretty car.
But being a fan of big bange's I'd prefer
to see a V-8 replica like McClaren or Lola.
The Lola T-70 ran several different engine makes, and both spyder and coupe trim using
the same basic mono. (Can you tell I'm a
lttle biased here?).

Can't wait to see how the GT40 turns out.

MikeD
(Chevy, Ford, Astin

[gt40ford@juno.com]

I'm with Gregg and the hope for the MKIV. I love those cars and it'd be great for a reproduction.

Have fun!

John

[Datonabill]

MK-IV-J6, So, If I read you correctly, You bought Denis Gilbert's T70???? If you did, what is the statis of the car now? Is it the same car that SPORTS CAR ILLUSTRATED did a story on in June 1989?
I've always wondered what happened to that car. Got any pictures?

[MK -IV J6]

Bill
My car is the second T-70 described in Donohue's "The Unfair Advantage" It's a bit confusing because after it was wrecked at Riverside during tire testing it was quickly rebuilt with a new tub and raced for the rest of the season before being sold to John Meyers/ Phillip Van Scoy Smith/ me. SL71/32 described in Starkey's third edition. I'm not sure what the "Gilbert" car was. This link has history and pics. It reads from the bottom to to top. http://www.ferrarichat.com/discus/me...tml?1044417197
Best
Jim

[ February 09, 2003: Message edited by: MK -IV J6 ]

[jimbo]

This is not the same as the Porsche 906 but may be of interest. Some of you may be familiar with Chuck Beck's Spyders- they are a repro VW-based car which looks quite a lot like a Porsche 550 Spyder. When I was in Chuck's facility several years ago, he had a Porsche 904 project going which was partly done, and looked very good indeed. This was about ten years ago. I don't know if he ever completed the car and put it into production, but it is another on the list of beautiful GT/race/streetable cars I would love to have. Real ones are beyond what I could afford. Is it similar to a Porsche 906 or are they different?