Question about the originals

I've done a lot of reading about the GT40 and find the car and it's development interesting. I understand the tub, body and suspension were developed for that car. But what about things like door handles, mirrors, windshield, lights (front and rear), etc? Were they taken from other cars? Seems rather unlikely they had this little stuff made specifically for the car. But then again, maybe they did.:thumbsup:

Just trying to get a better understanding of the cars development.

Thank you

Will Parker
 
The door handles were bespoke for the car but a majority of the electrical items were parts-bin sourced. The front lights/driving lights were off the shelf Marchal units, the Mk.Is used a lot of Lucas bits (early quad rear lamps and front indicators, the later cars used SIMCA rear light units I believe) + Lucas wiring connectors, screen washers and wiper motor.

The Mk.IIs which were mostly fitted out in the USA raided the Ford US pars bin and components from the Mustang and Galaxy can be found in there (not to mention Chevy Corvair rear lights!!!). Gauges were sourced from Stewart Warner rather than Lucas.

Brakes on Mk.I and Mk.II started of as Girling units but then evolved along with the racing program.

The Mk.III was a "road" Mk.I but the Mk.IV was a totally different animal, more like a distant cousin to the Mk.I, II and III.

Hope that helps a little - I am sure more in depth posts will follow :)

Cheers

Craig
 

Chris Duncan

Supporter
It was the first car to be designed with the aid of computers

many of the small parts where off the shelf not specific. Things constantly changed as time went by, due to availability and upgrading, consequently almost no two examples of the originals are exactly alike

the windshield was specific built, it was a triple laminate, like some aircraft of the time, because it was designed to be part of the torsional rigidity of the chassis
 

JimmyMac

Lifetime Supporter
the windshield was specific built, it was a triple laminate, like some aircraft of the time, because it was designed to be part of the torsional rigidity of the chassis

"Triplex" screens were used as far back as 1912 and used in many British cars since.
 
Thank you for the information. What about the brakes and steering system? Were they specifically designed for the car or were they off the shelf parts available at the time?
 
The brakes evolved over time; I believe initially they used the Girling "BR" (rear) and "CR" (front) calipers, same as the roadgoing 427 Cobra and 289 Cobras, Ferrari 330, 365, and several other cars.

Those were off-the-shelf parts, used on a variety of sports cars. Whether they were developed for one particular car, and then found their way onto others, or instead were just developed as stand-alone pieces of hardware (say, like Wilwood parts are now) and plucked for use here and there, I don't know.

I don't know if the GT40 used a bespoke steering rack, or adapted one from another common source, although it wouldn't surprise me if you found out that it was shared with a much more mundane car. But the suspension bits (uprights etc.) were bespoke items (although to what degree they interchange with the Lola GT which begat the GT40, I don't know either).
 
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