I'm pretty optimistic about the future of GT40 enthusiasm. I take my car out and about quite a bit and show it occasionally with a local car club of which I'm a member. I've been impressed with the number of young teens, male and female, that want to talk about the car and know quite a bit about GT40 history (often far more than their parents). In the spring, I was asked to show the ‘40 at the first car show Disney sponsored at Walt Disney World as part of the Cars2 movie release. The crowd reaction was amazing. At another Disney event, I had the car at a HOT WHEELS convention and met Phil Riehlman. Interestingly he’s the fellow that designed the GT40 Hot Wheels car. It was the first time he’d ever seen a full scale GT40. The crowd response was also incredible. Our club had a dozen cars there but the crowd favorite was the ’40. I’ve had more than one pre-teen tell me the ’40 is their weapon of choice for X-Box, Grand Tourismo, or other video game racing.
When I was a kid, a factory Ferrari team stopped off at a local motel on their way to Sebring. My Mom heard about it and took me over to see it. I remember it like it was yesterday. The mechanics were from California and the pulled the cover off the cars so we could see them and it was the most stunning thing I had ever seen. It was sooo red and the fenders were so curved, it was amazing. They even let me sit in one of the cars. It was a Ferrari 250TR.
I try to do the same thing with my GT40. I bet over the years 500 kids have had a seat in my car and gotten a photo in it. To give you an idea of the appeal, at the local charity show, a very pretty and very pregnant young mom was talking to me about the car and she told me the GT40 was her favorite “exotic” as a little girl. She couldn’t have been more than 25. She saw that I was letting kids sit in the car and asked if she could. She said she knew she was having a son and wanted a picture of his mom sitting in a GT40 with him “in the oven” so he knew he had a cool mom. Getting her in was not too bad, getting her out could have been a National Geographic TV special.
As I said, I'm pretty optimistic.