by Wallace Wyss
William Laporte held his third annual gathering at the Marconi Automotive Museum in Orange County CA and. though it didn't have any genuine '64-'69 GT40s show up .it was a rousing success with mostly 2005-2006 models on display.
The crowd draw was the chief designer of that car, Camilo Pardo, now a fine arts painter, and fashion designer, as well as freelance car designer.
Pardo gave a 45 minute presentation with plenty of visuals showing the first drawings (done on a napkin), the clay model, the space buck (so you could plan layout) the chassis and several variations on paint themes. It was revealing how hard designers fight to have their passion realized, as . at one point Pardo said he felt they had the right idea but it was too tall and too bulky and not reminiscent enough of the originals. So Pardo anf his crew were able to convice Ford to re-saided by commisioning life size pictres of the original GT40 tp patk behind the clay model. The engineers saw how far they were off and corrected it.
Of the cars on display, the most impressive to me was one owned by a Beaumont, CA enthusiast who said it was a racing body, though I knew there was a race team (not supported by Ford). I didn't know you could buy the body, which has wider flaring, much wider wheels and tires.
Several of the '05-'06 models had the plugs in the seat to cool off the driver. In retrospect, they look overly large, and I hope they work better than those of the Sixties' originals.
One had a huge sunroof but I still wouldn't call it a targa top since the side doors still had their upper horizontal window surrounds.
One had a bundle of snakes exhaust, like the '64-'69 race cars, which showed audiences what Pardo was fighting for in the '05 but which, because of emissions, couldn't get approved for production.
There were at least three kit cars, or aftermarket created, Ford GTs, two of them Superformance models. Their company has made a name with the Cobra continuation cars and are also in Orange County.
Alas, none of the targa conversions (GTX1) of '05-'06 GTs converted by the one time supplier in Wisconsin made it to the show, though several were completed before the company went bust.
Surprisingly, there were no 2006 GTs that had the coveted Gulf team blue and orange colors, understandable when it was a $13,000 option. (Today those who ordered that option might get another $100.000 when they sell their car) A Ford business partner on the car, Steve Saleen, whose shop built the '05-'06 cars and painted them said that paint job pushed the new car's price tag up and resulted in some cars soaring past the $150,000 he had advocated from the beginning.
The two presentations. from Pardo and Saleen, were just right for the audience who got to hear from the actual people that created the cars, though 22 years has passed since the last '05 was built (I hope the owners of the last generation GT get to hear from its creators at future gathering)
The event was held at the Marconi Automotive Museum in Orange County that reflects the refined taste of its founder who seemed to have liked Ferraris as much as domestic high performance cars. A real treat was two movie cars, one a Batman car and the other a Pontiac Firebird from Knight Rider.i was impressd by the busy cockpiy in yhr Bstman car--when theey could habe gotten away without it.
There were no nostalgia tables with old books(including Ford GT40 and the New Ford GT, (co-authored by yours truly)and mo old photos but Camilo Pardo put on his artist hat and sold inspirational prints of his paintings of the car he was in charge of designing. He still maintains a residence and studio in Detroit as well as a residence in Los Angeles.
The event lasted only 3 hours, necessary so Museum visitors could visit, but it was a well planned event and I hope they repeat the same event on the East Cast for GT fans there.
