What is the most historically accurate replica/kit currently being produced?

[Charlie Farley]

Jim,

I'm a little confused by your reply to ' Oldtimer's ' question.

Continuation numbers / serial numbers has nothing to do with originality.

It's all to do with $$$$$$.

I've been in many original cars and also Superformances.

The last thing on my mind is slatting any make.

But get real, i suggest you do the same, then revise your opinion on

' originality '.

David, as Tim Dutton put so well, some of us are big enough to admit our mistakes. Why wouldn't we ?
It's all part of growing wiser.
To refute this smacks of the ostrich syndrome.
If anyone asked me about my monocoque chassis, they would get an answer.

Tell me, why have you only driven your car 6 miles in 17 years ?
Do you take it for it's yearly MOT Test on a trailer ?

 

[Jim Craik]

Jim,

I'm a little confused by your reply to ' Oldtimer's ' question.

Continuation numbers / serial numbers has nothing to do with originality.

It's all to do with $$$$$$.

I've been in many original cars and also Superformances.

The last thing on my mind is slatting any make.

But get real, i suggest you do the same, then revise your opinion on

' originality '.

Andy,

Perhaps you should re-read Oldtimes first post, he certinally asked for a "make".

If you have been in many Superformance car as you say, then tell me your reasons for its "lack of originality".

Calling something by it's original name may well have something to do with originality.

I think someone forgot to take their meds!

 

[40 Bud]

David are you saying that you don't like your GTD or that it just doesn't fit the close to original mold?

 

[David Morton]

Bud,
With 20/20 hindsight and knowing some of the people I have met along the way I would have gone down the monocoque route - much the same as James with one of Rays Mirage cars. However they were few and far between and the only monocoques I saw in the mid nineties were the Safirs being built in High Wycombe by Henry Atherton at Adams Mcall. Clearly they were out of sight on cost grounds and with a younger family relying on my wife and me to put food on the table and a roof over their heads I went along the cheaper route of the space frame car. Along the way I've tried to make a 'silk purse' out of it but it still remains a spaceframe GTD which , in my opinion is nowhere near a replica in the Oxford English Dictionary sense of the word. I know this started some heated debate previously and it seems, at least to me , the American definition of a replica is wide of the mark when it comes to speaking English. As I said previously it would be a Mirage and I think I would be following one step behind James with one of Rays Mirages built as a Mk1.
Why have I only done 6 miles since 1992. I ran two jobs for the first ten years and from then I was extremely (even more) busy (from 2002 until the present 2009).The car got built extremely slowly for the first ten years or so. Also I am sorting out various restrictions that are bugging me physically at the moment ( Openheart 5 bypasses 2 years ago which slowed things a bit and currently torn rotator cuff on both shoulders). I hope to resume a normal service in 2010 with my small company and that may also be when I take the plunge and go for a Mirage monocoque. I'm 62 now and I do realise that I have to sort things out soon or it will never happen.
Dave

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Yes, there's a rather narrow window in most of our lives when all the following have to line up: enough money to build or buy a GT40, good enough health to do it and be able to get in and drive it, enough free time to build it and drive it, and enough space for all of the above as well. If you are lucky, the various slots will line up and you get a clear shot at the target. Someone said "life is what happens while you're making plans". Was it John Lennon? might have been. Hope you get back in your car soon, David.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

The work that was done on my monocoque in England was done by Henry Atherton, as a matter of fact; I visited there and they had a very nice group of shops, most of which seemed occupied by Jody Scheckter's old Formula cars. Evidently he and Kerry Adams are mates from way back.

 

[David Morton]

For a few weeks it came to the workshop Henry and me used to shared in the marina area in Marlow before it was shipped to the USA. I believe Henry also made some suspension parts (wishbones) as well as fitting the roof and B posts. I'm not quite sure if the roof section came from Sweden (Gox?). I seem to recall at the time it wasn't that easy to fit.
Yes Jim - Another one of John Lennons one liners.
I'm pleased your approaching some sort of completion Jim. It must have seemed like forever.

 

[Rune]

David if You "look around You", the steel roof You see, most of them are made of Swedish steel.
Rune.

 

[David Morton]

Rune - I saw some that are in production here in the UK about 6 weeks ago and they look exceptionally good. They offered one on to the tub as a trial fit to show me and it would not need any adjustments before welding and furthermore the screen would also fit perfectly. It was very impressive. But what do I know.......

 

Hi Rune

Dont get me started on Gt 40 Roofs from Sweden. After all my time and Investment, I ended up getting one from a nice guy called Jim Price, who is good to his word and a Gentleman.

Regards

Chris.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

I don't know. It has a steel roof that is painted black and came from someplace. I wasn't advised of it. I know we are going to have to do quite a bit with the doors to get them to fit the roof. If any of you attempt this, have everything made in one place, don't do what I did. Godalmighty. The parting of the Red Sea and the loaves and fishes must have been easier. At least, they didn't take as long.

 

[Rune]

Jim.
I don't know where You get Your roof from. I only know that a bunch of roofs have been sold.And someone have them on their cars.
I had everything made at the same place an the fit was perfect. But still it is a lot of work to do.
We have to remember that all these cars are handmade and the major tool is a hammer . I don't think you will find two cars that are the same.
Rune

 

[David Morton]

Rune said: I don't know where You get Your roof from. I only know that a bunch of roofs have been sold.And someone have them on their cars.
I had everything made at the same place an the fit was perfect. But still it is a lot of work to do.
I mentioned it above and it's possible that the roof for Jims car came from Sweden possibly via Roy Snook and Kerry Adams and then Henry Atherton fitted it as best he could and trying to correct some of the alignments as he went along . Jim hits the nail on the head, squarely, in his comment about having the whole thing made in one place.To do anything other than this courts disaster and/or vast expense.
I think Jims car covered three continents before the doors were even thought of.

Henry told me that all the / every Safir he made in High Wycombe was slightly different - simply because they were hand made as he went along though each one was welded into the same jig. (Which apparently was just left outside after the Safirs and sent off to the scrap yard)

Please don't turn this thread into a pissing contest as it is quite informative in some ways. I still would go for the Mirage/Gelscoe as about on parr with each other as the better monocoques around.

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

Henry told me that all the / every Safir he made in High Wycombe was slightly different - simply because they were hand made as he went along though each one was welded into the same jig. (Which apparently was just left outside after the Safirs and sent off to the scrap yard)

QUOTE]
Brian Angliss told me they made the Safir roofs at Autokraft one by one on the English wheel and hand forming. Also the Safir cars did not (at least P1116) have an "inner" roof panel...I know as I put a small oilcan dent into the roof that showed inside.

 

[David Morton]

Thanks Rick. No wonder they were priced out of reach of mere mortals.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

You know, I'll have to look. I think it is a two-layer roof, but I am not certain. Henry did a good job, really- Metalcrafts had to correct some stuff but that was for the fit of doors that Henry didn't have available when he did his part of it all. Given that the car was built on three continents, it's better than you might reasonably expect.

What WASN'T so good was the fiberglass work- the glass shop in Ohio that did the work for Safir Ltd kind of ripped us all off. It's quite a lot better now, having been done over and resurfaced, not to mention some structural work.

You know, thinking about this thread, the most original feature of my car may be the fact that even though everything on it is supposed to be Mark I, quite a lot of adjusting has been necessary to make it all fit as if it belonged. Now THAT'S what a GT40 is supposed to be like....

 

[Steve C]

What happened to the guy that posed the original question?

Steve P2125

 

[David Morton]

Probably sitting back watching all that is going on. I'm sure he will speak up sooner or later.

 

[Chris Duncan]

i'm not as rich as i thought i'd be .......

help me find the most historically accurate gt40 kit i can get.

Uhh, define "rich" because these two statements are probably diametrical opposites.

depending on how much of it you build yourself, come up with an estimate of how much you think it will cost and how long it will take. And then double those figures.

the only saving grace of it taking a long time is the expense is spread out over that time.