Dutton's RCR40 Build Thread

[Molleur]

I made a deal with my spouse regarding my soon to be SLC build. She will cut the grass, perform most househild maintanence and allow me to sleep with the car if need be! It only cost me a kitchen & flooring re-do. I'll place my office phone in the garage too. Congratulations Dutton on your fresh start! I have always found Fran & the RCR guy's very helpful and willing to take the time to answer my questions. I do refrain from frequent inquiries to RCR, I'm patient and it will be well worth the wait.

[Chris Kouba]

Originally Posted by crossle43

...Time to dust this off and bring the story up to date...

Ummm, yeah... To be truly "up to date" would include photos of the car already painted (come on, I know they exist!).

The real update would be something like, "The shipper will be here on Thursday." Tell him to drop it off down here. I'll keep it dry all winter if you want to "store" it here. Seriously. For free even.

[Fran Hall RCR]

Yeah ...come on show them the green meanie pics.....

[Dutton]

When the time came to get this project moving from theory into practice, Fran tasked the most senior RCR employee, Mark Montayne, with the project. Those who have visited RCR and have been able to meet Mark likely found him to be a fairly quiet guy but there’s a lot more to him. The first two qualities needed to work at RCR are a great sense of humor and a sharp mind – and Mark has plenty of both.

Mark has been around racing for most of his life - first with his father and later with Fran - and clearly learned quite a bit during those years. In late May of this year, I spent a week at RCR, working side-by-side with Mark on the chassis build and can report that not only is he a damn good designer/fabricator, but he has an exceptional ability at solving a three-dimensional challenge to success the first time through. This is one sharp cowboy.

On the last day of my visit, I climbed into the chassis to fit the seat and pedal assembly. That worked well enough, but I found that the shifter REALLY sticks out there and, for me, was a little uncomfortable. After talking it over a bit with Mark and Fran, I wondered aloud if there was a way, any way, to recess the right side fuel tank enough to move the shifter a few inches out of the way. Some weeks later, what should arrive via email but some photos which pretty much tell the story about the gearshift relocation and tank mod. When I got Fran on the phone, he was understandably very proud of what Mark and his team did, and I couldn’t agree more. Getting into and out of the car will be vastly easier and the fit, finish and attention to detail is to the usual RCR high standard.

Check out those cool Smiths gauges in the first pic, too...

[Dutton]

One of the most difficult decisions for every builder is the color – and far be it from me to buck that trend!

When I was in Detroit a couple of years ago to place my order with Fran, I remember a particular photo of a 40 on the wall in the shop. While looking for the ‘right’ color for this 40, my mind always seemed to drift back to the memory of that pic. Now, it’s not like I really prefer this color to others but on a 40, Linden Green just looks right.

Fran got his team started on researching the formula. First they found a shade of Linden Green which was used on North America cars in the late 1950’s. After seeing the color, it was easy to imagine it being used on full-sized cars of the day but NOT on this 40! So the research continued, eventually we turned to a photo found in ‘The Ford That Beat Ferrari’… that’s more like it!

[Dutton]

Now that we had a target, color samples were in order... not those pathetically small 0.5 x 1 inch color chips in the paint store color books mind you, but some samples with some size. Fran and the body team did a fair bit of work at getting the color right, mixing up several different batches of paint and providing me with the results. There's nothing like looking at real paint in real light to actually determine what it looks like! Some weeks later the team got started on body prep and, while I was in Detroit, the body was painted. Sadly, the photos don’t do justice to the actual color… damn but that car's pretty!

The first photo, although fairly close to the actual shade, is still a bit overwhelmed by the camera flash. The others were taken just to keep me on the edge of my seat…

[Pantera1889]

Your car is going to be AMAZING!!!! Finally ,someone had the balls to paint their car Linden Green!
Are you SURE you are talking about the Mark that works for Fran????? That's NOT the impression I got of him!!!!
Just kidding ! Mark is a great asset to the RCR operation!

[Chris Kouba]

Now that's more like a real update. Nice work and looking fantastic! Any news on a ship date?

[Dutton]

molleur: I couldn't agree with you more when it comes to frequent inquiries about the progress of the car - I wish others would join that club! My calls to Fran are limited to discussing finer details and only when they come up. Fran, Mark and the rest of the team are busy enough with all their confirmed orders and new customers (not to mention some inane emails) to take up their time with frivilous calls. Well worth the wait? Ohhhh yeah...
(I sure wish you'd been the lead negotiator when the missus wanted the house updated... I didn't get anywhere near as good a deal as you did!)

Chris: Thanks for the offer to store the car! Your selfless and generous offer doesn't surprise me in the least. Of course that would mean you'd have to move it out of the driveway from time to time... and while it's running probably take it around the block a quick 150 mile drive in the sunshine... speaking of which, when will the Phoenix temps begin to cool enough to get back into the garage?

Ron: Thanks. Settling on a color was, for me, the hardest decision of the whole build. The car is being wired this week... you know, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Mark takes the car to Run 'n Gun next month!

[Rob]

Dutton,
Fantastic. She will look great. I too admire that color / car when at Fran's.

Looks great.........maybe updates a little more often though.... OK, so not just when a piece of trim is mounted, but more than once a year. If not, your next update won't be until you change your first set of tires.

[Molleur]

Dutton: With all of Fran's projects, he and the guy's are busy enough without answering phone calls. Since placing my order I have talked to Fran
I think two or three times. Once to upgrade wheel/tire package and another
time to select the windows and new interior parts. I do know he has a stack of chassis ready to go so the minor delay for my SLC was self imposed due to changes that I made, and sourcing my gearbox.
The Linden Green is a bit unusual at it was seldom used. I like it for that reason and it suits the car well. Congratulations for stepping out on this. I will get my SLC in black gelcoat, still undecided about the final color. The black looks wicked! So does red, white and blue! BRG is good too. I have a friend that is doing a photoshop trick with several combinations of colors and graphics. We'll see...

[Craig Gillingham]

molleur .....what colour SLC you want a CGI for?

[Rick S.]

linden green is a great color for a gt40. when I was at fran's a year ago, the picture he has of a '40 on the wall (1086 I think) in Linden Green was terrific!

[Steve26]

Looks great Dutton,
let's get a early start on setting up a road trip for early next year with the Washington folks. When do you think your car will be home? I think I'll have to stop by and pick up Neal so we can drive up and welcome your new baby.

Steve

[Molleur]

Craig, looking at some combinations and graphics. Perhaps silver on the roofline and
similar on the sides. Basic body is black.

[Bill Hara]

Hey Tim

Have you been driving that Green Meanie around?

Should be warm enough for you now!

Some pics too please

Bill.

[Dutton]

Okay, guys, I get it. It's taken a few years, but I really and truly get it now.

All these years I've been imagining what it was like to actually have a GT40, finished and pretty much ready to run, parked in my garage. For so many, unfortunately, that will always remain a dream and never become a reality. For me, however, that all changed today around noon when my RCR was delivered.

Without a doubt (according to the UPS guy who was making another stop at my home with another GT40 part, anyway), THIS particular garage is THE coolest garage in the county. Bearing in mind that I haven't seen that many garages in my county, I'll defer to his experience. What I do know is that the garage is now fully decorated. What a remarkable day!

It's been a longish wait but then I always figured that the RCR team would send to me a 40 fully completed, and that it would be done very, very well. While there are a few little details, overall I am thrilled. The RCR team kicked butt on this one!

It's been a long week and the father-in-law will arrive shortly (he learned about the delivery last nite and wanted to be here on day one), so no pics right now. Suffice to say that it is a remarkable car in person. I'll post a few shots tomorrow.

In the meantime, please excuse me; I have to back to the garage and stare just a bit more before dinner. If you think back to the first day you had a GT40, I know you'll understand...

T.

p.s. Bill, I apologize for not responding sooner; I simply missed it. Sorry big guy!

[Allen English]

Tim - Congrats on your RCR40 delivery today and it was nice talking to you this evening. I am looking forward to the pictures. The last time I saw your car it was in several pieces and Frans crew was working on it.

[DaveM]

Congratulations Tim. We have to have a GT40 gathering in Seattle now that your car is here.
Dave Miller

[Cliff Beer]

Tim, congratulations! You're going to have a LOT of fun with her. She looks stunning in Linden Green. We definitely need to have a Northwest GT40 gathering!