GT40 Mk1 with gulf flares??

[Reggie D]

Ok. I'm new here, but have been searching all day to get up to speed on the GT40 details.

When I do order on I KNOW I want the Gulf Paint scheme. I found this video and this is pretty much exactly how I want mine, but I'm not 100% sure of what it is.

Gulf GT40 Test Drive - YouTube

Questions.

1. This is a Mk1 right?

2. Does it have gulf flares?

3. Do "gulf flares" reference the flare adjumstments that were added to the gulf race cars? I assume they are.

4. Any idea what replica company made this car, and if so how do you know?

5. What wheels are this car sporting?

6. I seem to find many differences in the rear of these cars. Did the Mk1 and Mk2 both come with various designed rears?

7. General question. The original gulf colored racers were both Mk1 cars and Mk2 cars right?


Thanks all. I just want to get my knowledge of these things down. I'm been in love with the GT40 since I was a child. I'm only 27 now, but still :laugh:

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

The Gulf cars are all Mk Is, the Mk IIs were only raced as Ford factory cars.

Welcome but please see rule #2 regarding names.

 

[Reggie D]

The Gulf cars are all Mk Is, the Mk IIs were only raced as Ford factory cars.

Welcome but please see rule #2 regarding names.

Yea I was not sure about that. I was a little surprised about that given all of the internet hacking nowadays. Anyway, its changed.

Ok the Mk1 makes sense then. Any insight on the other questions? For some reason or another many of the Mk1 pictures I see online don't look the same. This is how I want mine to look, so I just wanted to get the details down.

Thanks!

 

[Ian K]

I'll do my best here.

Questions.

1. This is a Mk1 right?

Yes

2. Does it have gulf flares?

Yes

3. Do "gulf flares" reference the flare adjumstments that were added to the gulf race cars? I assume they are.

Yes, the type of flares added by JWA Racing in '68 and '69.

4. Any idea what replica company made this car, and if so how do you know?

Roaring Forties of Australia. It says so in the comments (the owner answered). Also, this car was owned by a gent who used to chat on this forum.

5. What wheels are this car sporting?

17 inch BRM replicas made by Vintage Wheels I believe.

6. I seem to find many differences in the rear of these cars. Did the Mk1 and Mk2 both come with various designed rears?

Sort of. With the MkIs the flares, wheel arches, and lights all saw differences/modifications for various reasons. The Gulf cars are often referred to as MkIBs. The MkIIs had a bit more uniformity.

7. General question. The original gulf colored racers were both Mk1 cars and Mk2 cars right?

The original Gulf cars were either MkIs or Mirages. The MkIIs were originally factory sponsored cars, and did not wear Gulf livery from what I remember.

Ian

 

[Reggie D]

^^ Excellent. Thanks for the great help. I truely love that car and that will be my goal. I actually have not seen one with wheels that large, but they fit the car great.

I'm curious how close the Roaring Forties cars are to SPF in design. I understand that CAV cars are a good bit different from SPF due to SPF being continuation replicas. I just want mine to look like that ^

 

[Ian K]

^^ Excellent. Thanks for the great help. I truely love that car and that will be my goal. I actually have not seen one with wheels that large, but they fit the car great.

I'm curious how close the Roaring Forties cars are to SPF in design. I understand that CAV cars are a good bit different from SPF due to SPF being continuation replicas. I just want mine to look like that ^

Pretty much all of the replicas will get the look right. The differences are primarily in chassis construction and suspension design.

Roaring Forties, Southern GT, and GT Forte use a space frame chassis that you attach panels to with rivets and adhesive.

CAV and ERA use a stainless steel monocoque chassis that is not very accurate to the originals, but takes advantage of newer technology and design. CAV has an official license to use Gulf livery.

RCR uses an aluminum monocoque chassis that, like CAV and ERA, uses newer tech and design in lieu of accuracy.

SPF uses a steel monocoque, and tries to replicate the originals very closely. This also means there is some sacrifices made in favor of originality over modern technology and design. SPF has license to produce continuation vehicles from the company that bought the rights to the GT40 shape and design from the company that was given them by Ford.

Tornado has options for a steel spaceframe with rivetted panels, aluminum monocoque, or carbon fiber monocoque.

So, you have a lot of choices. There are other companies that make even more accurate replicas, but they come at a very high price.

Ian

 

[Jimmy P]

Reggie, I think if you'll find there are subtle and not so subtle differences between all the GT40 makes. SPF advertises their cars as being very close to original while other makes have made changes to their design to allow for taller and er, wider people to be able to fit into the car. For example CAV went for an all stainless steel chassis which means less chance of rust and designed it to suit taller drivers etc. Overall though most of the bigger replicar car company's have designed their cars to be similar to original so that anyone looking at the car could not mistake it for anything but a GT40. If you do a Google Image search and put in CAV GT40, SPF GT40, RCR GT40, Tornado GT40, Roaring Forties GT40 and a few others you'll see that all the cars look pretty much alike. Anyone of those I mentioned will be a solid choice. The GULF color scheme is very popular and one that always looks right on this car. BTW you should check out the Thread GTD 40 Partially Completed on this Forum. If you're looking for a great way to get into this hobby then this offer is as good as it gets. Looks like the seller already has the Gulf Wheels too.

Edit: Looks like Ian and I were on the same page!

 

[Velez]

Pretty much all of the replicas will get the look right. The differences are primarily in chassis construction and suspension design.

Roaring Forties, Southern GT, and GT Forte use a space frame chassis that you attach panels to with rivets and adhesive.

CAV and ERA use a stainless steel monocoque chassis that is not very accurate to the originals, but takes advantage of newer technology and design. CAV has an official license to use Gulf livery.

RCR uses an aluminum monocoque chassis that, like CAV and ERA, uses newer tech and design in lieu of accuracy.

SPF uses a steel monocoque, and tries to replicate the originals very closely. This also means there is some sacrifices made in favor of originality over modern technology and design. SPF has license to produce continuation vehicles from the company that bought the rights to the GT40 shape and design from the company that was given them by Ford.

Tornado has options for a steel spaceframe with rivetted panels, aluminum monocoque, or carbon fiber monocoque.

So, you have a lot of choices. There are other companies that make even more accurate replicas, but they come at a very high price.

Ian

The ERA site chassis description:

"The ERAGT CHASSIS is visually and structurally very similar to the original GT40, but the E.R.A. chassis incorporates many improvements to implement the transition from pure race car to practical street transportation.

We created a semi-monocoque structure like the original one. Ours uses 14 to 20 gage stainless steel , slightly thicker than original, instead of the original cold-rolled mild steel. The chassis is about 50 lbs heavier, a small price to pay for greatly increased corrosion resistance and reliability. The only major change from the original is the substitution of a graphite/kevlar reinforced plastic roof for the original steel one (which wasn't particularly structural anyway.)

The chassis has been modified to allow left or right hand drive in the basic design. By narrowing the rocker panels slightly, we give you more interior space and comfort . Unlike the original GT40, our chassis is designed for an efficient (optional) air conditioning system.

All the components that you must install are simply bolted in. The chassis already has caged nuts for almost everything imaginable."

The first ERA GT the tub was not Stainless Steel (guessing the first 60 or more tubs). The ERA GT builder (Teddy) is over 6ft tall and he fits in my GT without to much problem. ERA added the Gulf Flares option around 2003. The cars are built at New Britain CT and you could call for visit

 

[40 Bud]

Reggie if you are really interested and ready to get into a replica gt40 take a look under cars for sale. There is a beautiful gulf liveried GTD for sale at $65,000. A steal for that very well done car that is practically brand new.

 

[Allan Feldman]

As I was told as a reply to a certain magazine letter that I sent on a GT40 subject. There is no such version as a MK1. Since as the critic told me that would mean that an improved MKII version would come out and customers would wait for this version. This is not the case in the Ford GT story since they were racing cars not road cars!! So the opposition would know that an improved version would be made was inevitable!!!

Reggie here's the chronological order of things I hope this helps you.
1) 1964 Ford GT first 12 chassis numbered GT101-GT104 GT 105 first fitted with 289 rest of chassis made up of two big blocks GT106 and GT107 and Roadsters GT108, GT109, GT110 (became X-1 project) GT111, GT112 Became P40 and rebuilt to coupe). All small block first four fitted with 4.2 litre Indy: GT105 first with 289.
Body shape varied from original shovel nose to near production. Rear clips were also different i.e. Shelby's, Rob Walkers 325 engined
1965 Big block 427 (MKII) on chassis GT106 GT107 (Le Mans)
Can Am entry made up on Chassis GT110 called X1 using the long nosed section from the Big Block Le Mans cars
2) From May 1965 Production small block GT40's were produced up to P1084 last made at Slough. P1085 last number chassis. P1086 Tennent made up
P1020 was a development car and raced with the first wide body flared arch clip in 1967. Also I think this car and the Mirage M1 experimented with the non splitter hatch.
1966 Two lightweight GT40 produced by Alan Mann AMGT1 AMGT2 different modified bodywork to production small block GT40's with MKII snorkels on rear clip.
1966 MkII made up on chassis P1015 P1016 P1031 P1032 P1046(1966 Le mans winner) P1047, XGT1 XGT2 Allan Mann MKIIs
These cars had different bodywork to a small block
1966 X-1 Spyder GT110 rebuilt to MKII specs with a unique spyder body won Sebring 1966.
1967 MKIIB P1015 P1031 P1047
These cars had modified bodywork from the 1966 big blocks.
1967 Mirage M1 M1001 M1002 M1003. These cars were not GT40's and had bodywork to conform to the 'J' rules at Le Mans.
1967 MKIII road cars 7 only produced completely different shape (front and rear clips) to small blocks and MKII's.
1968 /1969 Gulf cars small block 302 and 305 (4.9 and 5.0 litres) P1074, P1075 (these two were converted back to GT40's from Mirage M1) P1076, P1084/P1004 (Converted to Gulf spec for 1968 Spa not a lightweight)
1085 1086
1087-1089 Tennents chasis made up in the 1980's
Various cars made up on Left and Right hand MKIII chassis.
I've omitted the 1967 MKIV /J car since its not relevant.
MKIII there are kits but only 7 original cars made.

So to summarise the basic small block GT40 evolved though 1965 to 1966 with basically similar shapes. 1966 Two lightweight GT40 produced by Alan Mann AMGT1 AMGT2 with radical modifications. Front hatches were had twin nostrils on early cars but no splitter versions came after 1967 Mirage M1.
1967 P1020 has flared arched rear clip fore runner to the Gulf clip.
1967 Ford wins Le mans with MKIV rule change means Ford with draws from racing.
'Ford Parts' become available to Gulf sponsored JWAE team including Gurney Weslake heads. Dan Gurney was trying to sell these to Ford with no success (first used in his Lola T70).
Privateers modify the GT40 shape the most extremes being Paul Hawkins and Terry Durys
Rear clips have the single Simca 1100 lights (or Fiat 850). Earlier cars had twin rear lights.
Also the three Gulf cars P1074 P1075 P1076 had quick release door handle for Le Mans

The MKII is only available as the 1966 or 1967 MKIIB variant so its your choice. the main differences in body shape between the 1966 and 1967 is the positioning of the luggage boxes and spare wheel.
On the 1966 the spare was carried in the front wheel well and two luggage boxes were positioned in at the rear ether side of the engine gear box. It had noticable for Le Mans humps over the front wheel arches. The front hatch was hinged the front central NASAR duct was eliminated.
The 1967 MKIIB was opened up at the front and had a jacking bar attached on two triangular attachments fitted in place of the two jack hooks on the 1966 car. the passengers doors roof cut out was done away with and fitted to the roof with the top of the door being straight.
The 1967 MKIIB rear was different with the spare wheel being fitted to a tubular constructed tray with one luggage box attachment. The necessary space (which would not show) for the second luggage box space being contained in the passengers door.
Front clip hatches had splitters on the 1966 Shelby team and Alan Mann but I do not think they had them on the the Holman and Moody cars.
The three Ford France and Holman and Moody cars 1967 MKIIB had no splitters on the front hatches
Rear twin brake lights on both years cars were from a Cheviolet Corsair (As are those on the MKIV)
MKIII had a longer front and rear clip with twin lights on the front and room for luggage in the lengthened rear.

Its up to you to see what you,like and go ahead with it. So for clarity people refer to the Production GT40 small blocks as MKI. The MKII's are always the 427 big blocks. I've never heared a Gulf car referred to as a 1B. To me it is referred as a Gulf car or late production MKI!! I generally go by chassis numbers. Also cars used what parts they had indeed in the 1967 Targa the Ford France car had an old twin lights rear clip.
I hope this long winded reply helps.
Regards Allan