Jim Rosenthal
Supporter
Re: A New GT40 replica is Coming - Maybe?
Gee, that looks familiar...(see photo on my profile).
I would suggest that the markets for the Ford GT and for any replica GT40 are different, although the finances as mentioned above may have an effect. The one thing the Ford GT will have over any GT40, old or new, is that is it much more usable as a daily driver: all are LHD, it has climate control, air bags, etc, and can be serviced at a Ford dealer (although we'll see how well they do with that, I am no fan of dealers of any stripe). And, from the recent press, somewhat to my surprise, it is a good car of its' type- better than the competitive offerings. Its' scarcity wil make it a sellout at an inflated price. I think the trick for Ford is going to be to cut off production some time after the demand begins to slacken- not too soon, but soon enough to ensure its' rarity. After all, the benefit to them will be in the car's visibility, not in profits per unit, which means that after a while making many more of them will be beside the point. At that time, they'll have new engineering trial horses, and they'll have maxed out on their PR puff, so my guess is it will disappear- with fanfare, but gone.
As for the monocoque pictured above, it looks quite good. I would imagine they are interested in authenticity and figure that folks who want an 'original' car are willing to put up with the warts of the vintage chassis design- folks like me. I had heard that the Kirkham brothers were planning something like this. It will be interesting to see if they follow through- between the CAV, ERA, RF, ex-NZ, new Ford GT, and everyone else, the first decade of the 21st century may well come to be known as the "Great GT40 Revival Period"- sort of like all those periods in Art History I could never keep straight.
And, don't forget...there's always Meat waiting in thw wings..... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Gee, that looks familiar...(see photo on my profile).
I would suggest that the markets for the Ford GT and for any replica GT40 are different, although the finances as mentioned above may have an effect. The one thing the Ford GT will have over any GT40, old or new, is that is it much more usable as a daily driver: all are LHD, it has climate control, air bags, etc, and can be serviced at a Ford dealer (although we'll see how well they do with that, I am no fan of dealers of any stripe). And, from the recent press, somewhat to my surprise, it is a good car of its' type- better than the competitive offerings. Its' scarcity wil make it a sellout at an inflated price. I think the trick for Ford is going to be to cut off production some time after the demand begins to slacken- not too soon, but soon enough to ensure its' rarity. After all, the benefit to them will be in the car's visibility, not in profits per unit, which means that after a while making many more of them will be beside the point. At that time, they'll have new engineering trial horses, and they'll have maxed out on their PR puff, so my guess is it will disappear- with fanfare, but gone.
As for the monocoque pictured above, it looks quite good. I would imagine they are interested in authenticity and figure that folks who want an 'original' car are willing to put up with the warts of the vintage chassis design- folks like me. I had heard that the Kirkham brothers were planning something like this. It will be interesting to see if they follow through- between the CAV, ERA, RF, ex-NZ, new Ford GT, and everyone else, the first decade of the 21st century may well come to be known as the "Great GT40 Revival Period"- sort of like all those periods in Art History I could never keep straight.
And, don't forget...there's always Meat waiting in thw wings..... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
