What Kind of GT40 Have You Got?

Marty · 12-22-03, 07:13 PM

What does Hi Tech mean, in this situation?

Ron Earp · 12-22-03, 07:26 PM

don't know, some manufactuer I'd never heard of that someone said I forgot on the last poll.

roy snook · 12-23-03, 02:48 AM

Hi Tech Welding was a manufacturer in the U.K.
I think they were located on the same industrial estate as Tornado and only produced a few examples and are no longer in business.

Lee · 12-23-03, 02:56 AM

Not too many of them around. The proper full name is 'Hitech Welding'. Mine went to Belgium. I know of at least 2 other completed cars. One went to USA, and there is one in Sweden. They were a manufacturer in the late 80's, on the same industrial estate in Kidderminster as Tornado, in fact they were next door. They 'moved on' in about 1990. I understand Tornado started up in about 1989. But there is absolutely no connection between Hitech Welding and Tornado. The Hitech uses stainless steel suspension arms all round, Granada front uprights with Maxi bottom ball joints, and Land Rover top ball joints, and fabricated steel rear uprights with Granada hubs. Mine was Chevy powered, with Renault transmission.

Jim Downard · 12-23-03, 05:59 PM

Don't actually have it yet, but it'll be the first MDA GT40 in the U.S. I'm rather proud of that fact that my car will actually have a small piece of history. I currently have a Classic Roadsters 427 Cobra with a 393W stroker, and painted red of course.

Jim Downard

Howard Jones · 12-31-03, 05:09 PM

The above survey sugests that there are VERY FEW built and running GT40's in the USA. Does anyone know what the real number is? How about you dealers, do you have any market research on this. My guess is there are less than 100 built and running on the road GT40's in the USA. What do you guys think?

How about Europe, Aus/NZ? I would bet you there are less than 500 total complete running roadworthy GT40's worldwide!

Sebring GT · 12-31-03, 05:31 PM

Hey Ron and all board members - Happy New Year!
How about another poll with such questions as "finished/unfinished"; "type of engine "289/302/347/351/427/etc."; transaxle type "audi 016,Audi 01E,Renault/ZF/G50, etc.";wheels, tires, seats, Rack & Pinion donor, etc. It would be a good source of info for all of us to know what others are doing and what parts are being used. Keep up the great work.
Best regards, Orin Meyer

jimbo · 01-01-04, 05:55 PM

Good point, Howard. There are very few cars running over here...Hershal and Bill Bayard come immediately to mind; who else is out there driving their cars? I wish there were more of us showing the flag.
In my own defense, I have to say that I had planned to be driving at this point- I guess most of us wanted to be as well. If I am not doing so in 2004, it will be in spite of tail and wallet busting efforts, believe me.
The tub for my car is supposed to be here this month or early February. The assembly starts then. We have done a fair amount of research on where all the bits will come from (this is harder than a kit because there's plenty missing that we have to find etc); I am hoping to be in the paint booth with the car in late spring and, God willing, in the New England 1000 in the fall. Wish me luck- and all the other folks with a partly completed GT40 who are still chasing their dream.

DaveWharran · 01-01-04, 08:05 PM

Jim, I'm out there waving the flag.
I've put over 2700 miles on mine since the last week of October. Rain and snow days knock the average down a bit. A normal ride is 100 - 200 miles.

Bill Bayard · 01-02-04, 08:51 AM

Ron,

Would it be possible to add to the search in profiles,

to include specific items, such as 302s, O1Es,

Webers, Motecs, who's on the road, etc. Basically anything

in a profile? Polls are good, but an accessible database

of who has what, etc., would be invaluable. Members would

need to be pretty specific in their profiles, but that

would certainly be simple enough.

Bill

Ron Earp · 01-02-04, 09:02 AM

Let me check. I am assuming you mean have a section in the profile on car type with details, maybe even fields for each component, then have pull downs on the search engine. Might be doable.

JOSEPH · 01-02-04, 10:42 AM

GREAT IDEA ABOUT ADDING MOTOR, TRANS. AND OTHER COMPONENTS TO POLL. ALSO, THESE NUMBERS OF CARS WON,T BE ACCURATE BECAUCE I THINK THERE ARE AT LEAST 60 CAV'S IN THE US ALONE. THE INFO ON COMPONENTS SURE WILL BE HELPFUL TO THE REST OF US. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Ron Earp · 01-02-04, 11:14 AM

The poll for number of cars will never reflect how many there are - it will only reflect the members of the board and what they have. The CAV cars in many cases appeal to a different sort of GT40 enthusaist as they are only offered as a turnkey car. I imagine a lot of this subset don't even know the board exists due to differences in interest level, envolvement, etc. I'm going to try and add some fields to profiles though and see if that will help.

Howard Jones · 01-02-04, 12:33 PM

I have more than likely guessed low but even if this forum represents only 20% of the RUNNING cars in the USA then we still only get to something like 200 or so. Hummmm small group. I think that this number will surely go up from here. The newer cars like the CAV's and RF's seam to be closer to a "Kit" car than my GTD was. God I hate that word. Kit. Anyway the CAV is pretty much a drop in a motor and gearbox and go from what I have seen and the RF's seam to be going together much faster than my car did. Hummm maybe I'm just slow. Well I intend to have another barbeque beer day in the late spring early summer and hopefully my car will be showing off it's new paintjob. We had four 40s last year, hopefully we can get that up to a half dozen. I love the builder's page, maybe I should add some dust covered in progress bodywork pics.

jimbo · 01-02-04, 10:19 PM

This is slightly off topic, but I find the pejorative label "kit car" to be hilarious. As if there was something inherently better about writing a check and driving away from the dealership. Don't get me wrong, I've done that quite a few times too, but I have a great deal of respect for anyone who is willing to do ANY part of the process of getting a car on the road. Even a "drop in the power train and go" car involves a great deal of effort on the part of the owner/enthusiast.
The only things I can think of that are more difficult than building, or partly building, a car and getting it running and sorted out are 1) restoring an old one, where you don't even begin with clean parts, you have X years of crud and rust etc and 2) designing and building something from a clean sheet of paper.
All enthusiast cars involve a fair amount of hands-on time- this distinguishes the enthusiast from the 'just drive it around' type, or the 'maintain it with a pen and checkbook' guy. Even if I were wealthy enough to afford someone else to do all the work, I would still want to turn wrenches. Some days, it's the most fun. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Tony Hunt · 01-04-04, 05:36 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Let me check. I am assuming you mean have a section in the profile on car type with details, maybe even fields for each component, then have pull downs on the search engine. Might be doable

[/ QUOTE ]

Hi Ron,
Exactly. It would stop newbies like me from asking the same stupid questions all the time! I could plague someone with as near an identical car to mine as possible instead!
Have a great 2004, and keep up the good work. You may feel justifiably proud of your baby every time you check posts on the forum.

Howard Jones · 01-04-04, 11:14 PM

Jim, Boy have you got that right. I wonder how many people still have their "kit" in boxes after getting it home only to find out that they had become a autombile constructor. I didn't mean to say that the roller's are easy. They are surely not. The suspenson setup alone is something that requires a builder that is organised and willing to learn how to develop what is really a racecar on the street. No these are not kits in the sence of tab a into slot a.

Wh