Michael
I am asking now because when I go to college in Virginia, I wont be able to research anything anymore. When I finish the college, there will not be any lifestyle in terms of good income. In fact I will be earning less than I am now. The car should be done when I finish college, and since I cant research while I am there, I need to know now so that while I am over there, I can make the call, and start based off the research done here, now.
It also gives me a goal to look towards knowing what I want, rather than "Yeah I want a GT40 super car" but not know what gearbox, engine, colour, wheels, brakes or anything. To me it solidifies it.
Grady - RPMs, whatever it can do reliably without blowing up. So if it can be taken up to 8000-10,000 without exploding, and the engine 'lasting' rather than needing a rebuild after a few runs 0-100 to that rpm, then fine. Since I am going with a small block rather than a BB thats got torque, the more RPM the better aslong as its something the engine is comfortable with and can run all day without blowing up on it.
Michael, forgot to say, the whole reason I am looking at an F355 prior to GT40 is simple. After I had a drive in an F355, I understood that power is not everything that makes a car feel fast. It is also the height of the vehicle, the stiffness, the interior design etc that plays a huge role on how a car feels. My muscle car, even if it accelerates faster than an F355, it will feel slower due to the fact the whole things designed how it is. Realising I love the feel of go-kart like vehicles as it makes them 'feel' fast, I had to switch from muscle-exotic. Infact I was planning to get a Ferrari 308 to start with. Would be slower than my Charger, fairenough, its not really the kind of look I am after (prefer the charger over that car) but, being exotic, it will still have that go-kart like feel to it, which is a step in the right direction of the actual car wanted (the GT40/Diablo). In a sense its in the right category. However, after having met these people, they made a suggestion to me which would help me achieve the GT40/GT/Diablo sooner than had I started out with a 308 Ferrari. The rest took off from there. So the idea is simple, if I like the go-kart like feel and the end goal is the GT40 (which feels go-kart like), then the best car to drive to enjoy to some degree that concept of feel/design the GT40 would provide, is to drive a car built that way, such as an F355, 308, 328 etc. I would have put a Countache there, but sadly they are near as expensive if not more than Diablos. Dont know of any cheap Lamborghinis, while the Ferraris can be gotten for reasonable prices thus giving me the concept of the direction I am after rather than a Muscle car which feels like a boat and thus nothing like the end result I am after (A GT40)