P2304

The story of P2304 starts in the 70’s. From 1970 to 1976 my dad worked at Ghia / Ford of Italy. DeTomaso, Iacocca, the iconic Ghia designers such as Tjaarda, and even the man himself, Carroll Shelby all frequently drifted through our home over the years. My parents recall Shelby bringing Chili. My mother mostly drove a Mangusta, often interspersed with a Pantera or Deauville. Sort of depended on what was available at Ghia. My dad inexplicably mostly chose to drive a Maserati Mexico. My parents weren’t particularly “car people”, my dad’s background was finance. The cars and the men around them were not quite the legends they are today. It was an interesting childhood, but did not seem particularly noteworthy at the time.

Fast forward 40 years or so, and the passions ignited in the 70’s lead me to purchase a Superformance Cobra and a Viper GTS. Both cars with roots dating back to my youth. The GT40 was never particularly on my radar screen, it seemed unobtainable. Why bother to even consider it? Then I stumbled across the Fifth Gear video. “What’s this?”, I thought. I’m a Mk1 fan, so the original Superformance GT40 MkII, was not quite “it”. But when I saw the Wide Body GT40 Mk1, it was all over. My favorite car of all time is the Mangusta. However, I know them well and their shortcomings are a challenge. If Superformance made a Mangusta replica, that would be my car. Fortunately, they make something better in almost every way – the GT40 Mk1 Wide Tail.

In November of 2013 I sold my Superformance Cobra and Viper GTS to clear the way for a GT40. The deposit went in December of 2013. Today the “Production” payment went in and the car is expected to ship in early February. My goal is to have the car on the road for the Michigan spring.

P2304 has been configured as I would have ordered it if I could have in the 60’s. It will be a road car, Sunday driver, and causal/occasional show car. It may do one or two mild track days just to learn the car, but nothing competitive.

P2304 Details:
- Mk 1 Wide Tail
- LHD
- Monza Red
- No Strips, No Gurney Bubble
- Black BRMs with polished rims
- Roush 427IR
- RBT ZF
- Install by RM Motorsports of Wixom Michigan

As photos become available I’ll post them. For now a photo of my first GT40. A huge thank you to the Forum for teaching me so much about the GT40s over this last year of reading and waiting. I’ll certainly be putting a lot of what I learned into practice on my GT40.

More to come…

 

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Jim Craik

Lifetime Supporter
Jeffrey

Congratulations!

I know these next few months will seem very long....

I also went with the street version and a Roush SBF, the plain red should be beautiful!

After six years and lots of miles, I could not be happier!
 

Dave Hood

Lifetime Supporter
Jeffrey:
I've had my car for three years. Also Monza red with no stripes. My car was prepared by Dennis Olthoff, as I'm fortunate to live near his shop. If you're using RM Motorsports for your install, you may want them to purchase a few upgrade parts from Olthoff Racing and install them for you.

Here is my two cents on upgrades that I would highly recommend. The ones available from Olthoff are shown with an *

*Thicker bulkhead glass (better for noise and engine heat)
*Shifter linkage upgrade
*Interior door latches (much better than the SPF cables)
*Round window vents (they let in tons of air to cool the cabin)
*Smiths electronic speedo (much more accurate then the mechanical version)

Other things that I recommend which could be found elsewhere:

3M paint film for the front nose clip. Also put small pieces where the fuel filler caps would hit the front clip when opened, and inside the small niche where the wiper attaches (otherwise the paint will often get chipped when you remove the front clip). The time to install this film is when the car is new!

Replace the Willans 4 point harness with a decent 5 point harness. Even for a road car, I think you need a 5 point harness.

Install at least a fire extinguisher, if not a fire suppression system.

Replace the tires that come with the car with street AVONs. I previously had BF Goodrich T/A Radials, and they seemed to have half the grip of the AVONs I now have.

What type of an induction system are you planning? I have the Eight Stack EFI system (www.eightstack.com) and really like the looks and performance.

Congratulations on your new car. You'll enjoy it!
 
Sean, curious when is P2306 actually scheduled for shipment?

Thanks Jim and Dave! I definitely appreciate the list of pointers for RM. I've been collecting a list. The Wide Tail will come with hand cut AVONs. Not a ton of options for the wider 15" rims. The intake will be Roush Eight Stack Fuel Injection. I admit to not knowing a lot of the differences between the Roush system and the Eight Stack system. I like the look as well, and the performance should be great. I had a Roush 427SR in my Cobra and loved it. I want the integrated/warrantied complete offering from Roush.

Roush and RM Motorsports are both local which provides some significant benefits. I can personally supervise/watch the build day by day. And I have both my installer and engine builder within 20 minutes of my home if issues come up. Nice to be able to just tow a non-woring car a few miles to the appropriate place for attention. Everything I read says EFI can be tricky to set up right. RM and Roush have a long working relationship, so hopefully this helps. RM does some amazing things and I can't wait to see how well they do with the GT40. Granted they will not have the specific Olthoff experience with SPF GT40's, but I've spent a fair amount of time with RM and I just know I want them to build my car.


I don't think the next few months will be too tough. I kind of look forward to visits up to RM to watch the car come together. Should be a fun and interesting experience. After waiting a year with nothing...a few months watching the car come together should be fun.
 

Rick Muck- Mark IV

GT40s Sponsor
Supporter
Here is my two cents on upgrades that I would highly recommend. The ones available from Olthoff are shown with an *

*Thicker bulkhead glass (better for noise and engine heat)
*Shifter linkage upgrade
*Interior door latches (much better than the SPF cables)
*Round window vents (they let in tons of air to cool the cabin)
*Smiths electronic speedo (much more accurate then the mechanical version)

SPF now delivers the GTs with a real glass bulkhead window rather than the polycarbonate window used previously so you may not need to change it out.

We still offer our Air Con seal improvement kit to eliminate ambient temperature air intrusion into the cockpit and improve the AC effectiveness.
 

Dave Hood

Lifetime Supporter
I'd keep the AC on the car for sure, if for no other reason to maintain the resale value of a street purposed car. I heard rumors that Mike was considering a snow plow for his car.
 

Jack Houpe

GT40s Supporter
I remember seeing my car sitting in Olthoff's shop for the first time, it was his personal car but was still a roller and he had not started the installation, I thought it was the most beautiful car I'd ever seen. It was a stroke of luck he sold it to me as two of my friends had to wait 9 months or longer for their cars. I sold my 83 BBI 512 Ferrari Boxer to purchase a roller, not sure if that was a good move now but what the hell.

Good for you! How long to cross the world?
 

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Beautiful car Jack! I may some day add some stripes to mine as well. Kind of went back and forth on that and decided to start without. I know you've owned/own some pretty interesting cars. The GT40 is lucky to be in such fine company :). Yep, the 512 BB might have appreciated a bit, but seems like you have a lot of fun with the GT40. Curious on your overall impressions of your GT40 vs some of the other stuff you own.

- Jeffrey
 
Jeffrey, The cars looking good in the photos!! Can't wait to see the finished product. I'm sure the wait, while tolerable, is still tough. Very tough.

Jack, love your attitude about the 512 BB. Who knew? But form what I'm reading the SPF's are holding their own too. Who knows?

The 512 BB is the fastest car I've ever driven and as a very naughty lad one clear cool day I took the car to 170 on I-95. Stupid yes, but stunning and I recall the car being rock steady and very capable. Great car.
 
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