Back from paint

[Michael Holmes]

After a mishap, which can be explained upon request, I decided to respray and stripe the car with a more vintage look. Here are a few shots of the car on it's way back to final assembly. http://racingdivision.com/GT40/paint/

 

[Geert-Jan]

Very nice!!

Is the striping stickered?

 

[Michael Holmes]

I designed both the top and side stripes based on a number of cars, primarily the early prototypes and cars up to 65 LeMans. I did them in Illustrator and had Race Line Graphics export them as paint templates.

They are painted, Wimbeldon white.

 

[Michael Holmes]

Ok, already received emails regarding misshap.

The car was being prepared for a track event at Streets of Willow a few months ago, I had improved the water cooling by adding an expansion and overflow tank, and engine cooling by adding an external oil filter and large oil cooler. Upon my first test drive I noticed a high-pitched noise that caused me to pull over to inspect.

With the car parked on the street, curbside, engine off, in gear (no emerg brake yet) I opened the rear deck to inspect. No water or oil leaks that could have caused the noise. While standing next to the car, driver's door open I reached in to turn on the fans, fans on no unusual noise. THen the fuel pumps, pumps on, no noise. Then as I turned the key I found the problem, the start switch was shorting on the ignition switch. With me standing outside of the car and the car in gear, turning the key started the car and the car proceeded to embed itself under the back of a very large Chevy Surburban. Imagine my amazement of a car that can start without pushing the start button, and in gear. I come from the world of vintage Mustangs and could never have imagined this type of experience.

So with the car still running, still in gear, pushing the Surburban down the street, I jumped in, reversed the car until it was fully extracted.

My mishap.

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Looks great Michael....love that colour scheme...
Nice to see her back in one piece

 

[Michael Holmes]

Looks great Michael....love that colour scheme...
Nice to see her back in one piece

Thanks Fran, BTW i owe you for the dash vent, can you send me the total with shipping and I will get you paid.

Thanks

 

[Jim Craik]

Michael,

Beautiful Color!

What a, incredable story about you incedent, I can only imagine how you felt, chasing those cars..........

Glad it worked out in the end!

 

[Geert-Jan]

BTW, I love your tank-top :laugh:

 

[Michael Holmes]

Michael,

Beautiful Color!

What a, incredable story about you incedent, I can only imagine how you felt, chasing those cars..........

Glad it worked out in the end!

The shocking part was how much effort it took to remove the car, really layed down some rubber getting it out from under the other car.

But for the event it missed the radiator, suspension, frame. All the expensive parts.

 

[Michael Holmes]

BTW, I love your tank-top :laugh:

Not I.

 

[Michael Holmes]

The car should be ready for dinner with Bob Bondurant on Friday night, LA Shelby Show on the Santa Monica Pier Sat aft, Camilo Pardo's art exhibition Sat night and the PV concours on Sunday!

 

[Geert-Jan]

What is the name / code of that blue?

 

[Michael Holmes]

What is the name / code of that blue?

Windveil blue
Which is courtesy of:
Pantera 1889http://www.gt40s.com/forum/members/pantera1889.html

The oil & water cooling upgrades are courtesy of:
CELAW

 

[Seymour Snerd]

Then as I turned the key I found the problem, the start switch was shorting on the ignition switch. ...

Michael -- I hope you don't mind my sharing what to me is a fascinating detail of this mishap: the short was caused by the ignition switch ring nut coming lose, slipping back and shorting together two terminals two exposed conducctors.

This taught me a valuable lesson that I never really thought about before: in my wiring there should be no exposed conductors anywhere, period. Because you never know where a piece of metal may come from and touch those conductors. I'm so used to worrying about shorts to ground that I have never particularly worry about shorts between two signals, because after all, what are the chances? Well, here's the proof the chances are more than zero.

 

[Michael Holmes]

Michael -- I hope you don't mind my sharing what to me is a fascinating detail of this mishap: the short was caused by the ignition switch ring nut coming lose, slipping back and shorting together two terminals two exposed conducctors.

Thanks Alan. Yes there was a small amount of play when I would engage the key for time to time. I should have never let that go.

 

[Ron McCall]

DAMN!

I though it WAS my car for a second! Looks amazing!
I like the narrow center stripe better than the wider version that I had on my car.
Nice job!

 

[Jim Craik]

Michael,

I was thinking about your "incident", you were very very lucky!

If that Suburban had not been there, who knows where it would gave gone, what it would hit or how hard it would hit?

Not even getting the radiator, 1 in 100?

 

[Michael Holmes]

Michael,

I was thinking about your "incident", you were very very lucky!

If that Suburban had not been there, who knows where it would gave gone, what it would hit or how hard it would hit?

Not even getting the radiator, 1 in 100?

I agree 100%, I've played it over if I had been on the shoulder of the 405, on front of my studio or closer to the highschool, it was a good place for this to happen.

 

[Cliff Beer]

It happens. Just this past weekend my father had the start switch short on his vintage maserati. The car's wheels were on roll around casters and the casters were shot out the rear as the rear wheels began to turn and then hit the ground and the car jumped forward. He was working on the car at the time and just narrowly got out of the way of the front of the car as proceeded to hit the garage wall and take the whole wall off the slab and then finally partially break through the wall. My dad is 76, so this was quite an exciting experience for him.

 

[Michael Holmes]

It happens. Just this past weekend my father had the start switch short on his vintage maserati. The car's wheels were on roll around casters and the casters were shot out the rear as the rear wheels began to turn and then hit the ground and the car jumped forward. He was working on the car at the time and just narrowly got out of the way of the front of the car as proceeded to hit the garage wall and take the whole wall off the slab and then finally partially break through the wall. My dad is 76, so this was quite an exciting experience for him.

Glad to hear he is ok. Like I, I'm sure he will have to repeat the story to his insurance company several times when they ask him, "tell me again why you started the car from the outside?"