A New GT40 replica is Coming - Superformance

[jimbo]

Gee, that looks familiar...(see photo on my profile).
I would suggest that the markets for the Ford GT and for any replica GT40 are different, although the finances as mentioned above may have an effect. The one thing the Ford GT will have over any GT40, old or new, is that is it much more usable as a daily driver: all are LHD, it has climate control, air bags, etc, and can be serviced at a Ford dealer (although we'll see how well they do with that, I am no fan of dealers of any stripe). And, from the recent press, somewhat to my surprise, it is a good car of its' type- better than the competitive offerings. Its' scarcity wil make it a sellout at an inflated price. I think the trick for Ford is going to be to cut off production some time after the demand begins to slacken- not too soon, but soon enough to ensure its' rarity. After all, the benefit to them will be in the car's visibility, not in profits per unit, which means that after a while making many more of them will be beside the point. At that time, they'll have new engineering trial horses, and they'll have maxed out on their PR puff, so my guess is it will disappear- with fanfare, but gone.
As for the monocoque pictured above, it looks quite good. I would imagine they are interested in authenticity and figure that folks who want an 'original' car are willing to put up with the warts of the vintage chassis design- folks like me. I had heard that the Kirkham brothers were planning something like this. It will be interesting to see if they follow through- between the CAV, ERA, RF, ex-NZ, new Ford GT, and everyone else, the first decade of the 21st century may well come to be known as the "Great GT40 Revival Period"- sort of like all those periods in Art History I could never keep straight.
And, don't forget...there's always Meat waiting in thw wings..... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[scottbarber]

I saw an original GT40 at Kirkham's last June and they told me they were thinking about making a replica in Poland. I talked to Steve Kirkham last week and he said they had dropped the idea because of the new Ford GT. This surprised me as I agree with Jim that the two markets are different. There is certainly a lot of activity on monocoques. Jim Hester says he'll have a car at the Kit Car Nationals in May. Good luck to anyone who is making the effort.

Scott

[jimbo]

What is interesting to me about this is that essentially no one has messed with the shape of the car- everyone seems to agree that the GT40 body design is fine the way it is. I can only think, offhand, of one other enthusiast car wherein folks found all sorts of ways to improve the running gear, creature comforts, handling- whatever, but strictly left the look and shape alone- that was the Cord 810/812. Many of those cars were hotrodded in various ways, some were changed to rear drive at great expense to the owners, but the basic design was pretty much left as it was. And that was a beautiful, unusual, original design that was just right from the beginning. Guess I am showing my age... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[Ron Earp]

That is the chassis and there are some more pictures available as well. It looks to be quite good, especially in the sponsons and bottom areas - very accurate and if they can offer it for $85k then it is a bargin.

[Ron Earp]

I just received word that the Superformance Coupe will be $76-78k a copy, so I can't see them selling the GT40 for the same cash. I'd expect $95 for a roller from Superformance. Large money.

[Tom_Hughes]

All,

I was at a Grand Opening reception of the New Superformance dealer in the DFW area, and he had a new Daytona Coupe replica there form another dealer in Louisiana. The dealer list for the coupe was $63,800. Comes very nicely outfitted/modernized, but retains a very original look and will accommodate very tall drivers. You will need to add the motor and it is designed for the TREMEC 6 speed. Plan on 12K for the motor/trans and something minimal for labor to install it if you have the dealer do it, and you have a real 200MPH car that can actually be driven daily. Average Cobra roadsters do not sway me that much, but the Superformance Daytona Coupe replica was pretty dammed impressive! Can't wait to see their GT40 replica.

[Ron Earp]

Did they put power windows or roll down windows in it? This is what I've heard, and if they did that then they ruined it for me.

[Tom_Hughes]

Ron,

I believe the car does have power windows. I did notice it had power steering & brakes. Kind of wild. The interior was very nicely done. I did not bother to sit in it; it was not my 'cup of tea', but it was very impressive.

I was dissapointed in speaking with one Superformance dealer who was there that he felt their GT40 project should just die & go away. He did not feel it would, but thought it was just not a great market for Superformance to be in. I hope that his opinion is not shared by anyone else who is involved in the project. I would like to speak to a principal with Superformance who could get us more meaningful detail on the project. Does anyone have any contacts with someone from Superformance in this US, who is not a dealer/rep?

[Gary Gibbs]

I got to see their Coupe in Monterey and thought it look very well done. It was not real true to the original though, but a great modernized version. The outside look larger (oversized) to me. I think that they stretched it for more interior room or something.

Considering that they are up to "GT40" cost with the Coupe I will be surprised if they sell very many. I do love the original Daytona Coupe; howevery, given a GT40 or a Daytona Coupe I would have to choose the GT40 any day.

[Ron Earp]

I also heard the dimensions were a little off too. Don't think I can go with power steering either, the windows killed it for me but power steering is waaaaay too far!

[Andre40]

Hi all,

With regard to kit cars and replicas there are two schools of thought, those who want the cars to be 100% original copies and those, particularly from the younger generation, who say as long as it is more or less right that is OK. This is what Hi-Tech Automotive/Superformance had to consider and they came up with a car, for which original designer, Pete Brock, acted as consultant. Yes, it is not a precise replica and yes it does have mod cons to hopefully have a broader customer appeal.

Ron Hickman who designed the Lotus Elan and the Black & Decker Workmate (from which he made a few bucks!) and who is working on a new sport car project told me that the average American male beam, ie the width between hip bones has increased by a staggering 25% during the past 30 years. It is this sort of statistic that that has to be considered by car designers and also the reason why bigger Lotus Seven replicas have been built in recent years.

Having watched the development of the new Coupe but tending to fall into the purist league I say it is stunning!

Have a great 2004,
Andre 40

[DaytonaBill]

When I sculptured out the Daytona Coupe body for Factory Five Racing a couple of years ago now, we considered all these design factors that the Superperformance Coupe has now. We had to fit the construction of the car to their already established way of building a kit cat. FFR gave me a roadster frame and a windshield and said, " make a Coupe!" I took the liberty to make it more like the original than a modern car. The trick was to make it look good using what they gave me and funding the project innitially myself had to do it without going broke. Working part time over one year and twenty cases of body putty, fiberglass, and foam got it done. The windshield was the deciding element on what everything would look like from the windshield back to the rear spoiler.
It's fun to watch all the different ways people are building their cars. They are being built the high tech standards to original as you can make it. I built my Coupe as close to an original as possible. I think it was pure luck that the car fits many people's tasts in what they want to build. I didn't plan it that way. The car was a compromise in many design aspects. It seems that many people like the looks of the car and I hope it continues for some time to come. I wonder what I can do with a GT40...Lola T70........917 maybe???

[Hershal Byrd]

For me at this age it's about comfort. As long as my GT is
built so that it performs well and looks the part then I'm happy. If I owned an original I still would not drive it as much as I do my RF. I get out of my GT exactly what I want. A car that I can drive on the street and take to the track to enjoy some fun racing. I know I'll never be a Pro driver but at least I can feel what it's like for top drivers to go around a circuit.
Changing these GT40s and the Daytona coupes to fit these modern times is a good thing. I personally don't care for the Daytona coupe but if I did I would be wanting those neat little convienences. They should make it optional I guess so the purists like Ron can nix the power windows. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]I would not even think of owning a replica if it didn't have A/C or was a open top.
This GT40 is my toy and I'm gonna play with it! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Hersh [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Ron Earp]

I agree with you Hershal, to a point. I want what my car has to offer in the way of more leg room, etc. But, there are some things I don't want in the car because for me it looses "The Car" if that makes sense. Shape must be close, and both Superformance's and FFR's is close enough for me. But, power steering justs ads something I don't think it needs. A/C is a must for me due to location and for you too. Ditto on an open top - never liked the "targa" 40s, it just isn't "The Car" anymore. Power windoes, nope, not for me please!

[Hershal Byrd]

Right On Ron !!!
Merry Christmas.!

Hersh [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Gary Gibbs]

I also enjoy some of the upgrades like vented disk brakes instead of the original solid disks for a replicas, etc. To me it makes sense making some upgrades without loosing the orginal feel of the car.

For example, the Superformance Cobra body is fairly true to the original, but different under the skin. I was surprised that Superformance changed the Daytona Coupe body. It is not as different looking as the 94" wheelbase Cobras made by some manufacturers (compared to the original cobras), but it did look different then the other Daytonas that were at Monterey.

It is also interesting that their other offerings (Cobras, Daytona, etc.) are not very original when it comes to chassis, etc., but they have decided to go for the originality for the GT40 Chassis.

[frknfast]

I can advise that Peter Brock has been involved with this car from start to finish. All the way!! As most of you recall Peter Brock was and still is the original designer of the coupe. But due to time, money constraints the daytona coupe was fitted to the existing cobra body of the day. The Superformance coupe is called the Peter Brock coupe and this is what Peter wanted for the car at the time probably less the AC, power steering and windows. But heck since they are now readily available and can be put to good and practical use why not update the design and functionality of the car. Peter is very pleased with the outcome of this project. He was free to bailout at any time during design and production and the project would have been terminated if he did so and he wasn't happy. Obviously this was not the case. As there were only 6 originals built and I believe not one is the same. Thereore the Peter Brock coupe is an original and is factory built. Not a kit (no flaming here about kits). I think Peter wanted to use the best of what is available today and design the specs of the car as he really wanted and would perform the best.

[RobBeddington]

Ron

Some good news for you from the Superformance Coupe brochure:

"Retractable toughened glass side windows, manually operated..."

It looks like you'll have to buy one now [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]. Though if you want a get out, it's got a heated windscreen, air con, and all of the dimensions have been scaled up by 2%.

Performance figures are interesting. 0-60mph: 3.9secs, 0-100mph: 9.5secs, standing quarter: 11.5 secs, Max speed: 200+ (recorded at 206mph per an email received from Peter a little while back: "Just thought you might like to know. The Brock Coupe did 206 MPH on the road down is SA. This in completely stock trim, as delivered for street use! Peter")

Cheers

Rob

[Ron Earp]

I might actually go see one tonight if I can get clearance to head to GReensboro where a bunch of Cobras are gathering. The car sounds good, need AC, but can do without the crank windows - I'll take mine like a man with rivets or screws. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]