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Anyone know much about gt40na?
- Thread starter Jonathan
- Start date
Alain V has one...it's for sale.
Believe he has a thread in the For Sale section.
MikeD
Believe he has a thread in the For Sale section.
MikeD
I have a GT40NA and it is for sale. (CHEAP,,,well, cheaper than even a dealer can getone for)
It is car number 4,,,,I think they have finished 7 to date.
I am/was a dealer for them (sort of),,,,,,,,it is a loooong story.
Do a search on GT40NZ and NA and you should be able to find some of the drama.
Basically, I was to be the original dealer/importer for GT40NZ in New Zealand.
I purchased one complete kit and sent a substantial deposit for four more when my first one arrived.
I had a contract with GT40NZ to buy a minimum of 8 kits a year, and spare parts as their USA dealer.
Bob (the owner of GT40NA) contacted GT40NZ and started inquiring about being the USA dealer, throwing numbers around like "100 cars" at a time etc,,,,,and all of the sudden I became too small a fish.
Dave Harvey (owner of GT40NZ) made a "side deal" with Bob (who now becomes-GT40NA) for a whole bunch of cars.
Of course, Bob, makes an even more substantial deposit than me, and he negotiates with Dave to be the sole USA rep for the cars,,,,,,,(essentially cutting me out of the picture.)
Now,during this time, I check about once every tow weeks on my "four kit order" and all of the sudden they are mysteriously behind schedule, and start down a long list of excuses.
Many months go by, (like 7 or 8) and my money is still in NZ, I have NO KITS, and no idea what they are up to.
In the meantime, I dsicover that they also have "sold" two kits to Denis on the east coast.
Denis,finally gets his two kits,,,,,,,one of which is forwarded to GT40NA and becomes GT40NA #1.
By now, Dave at GT40NZ is finally starting to hint to me at what he has done, buy tewlling me things like he has "exciting news" about a large warehouse distributor in the USA that I will be able to get my kits from instead of waiting on them to arrive from NZ.
More months go by and I still do not receive any kits, as they all end up at GT40NA. Of course most of them are no where near complete, as Dave (GT40NZ) seemed alot better at accepting deposits than delivering complete kits per order.
Sooo, the guys at GT40NA start improving the NZ car and make their own carbon fiber body.
By now, Dave comes to the US to visit and announces to me his great news about these indy car guys in Indianapolis (GT40NA) who have ordered like a hundred cars, and they now have the funding to build a monocoque with a carbon body,,,,and all in the world will be wonderful,,,,because all I have to do is order the cars from GT40NA and they will arrive complete and ready to drive. (which is the total opposite of my original contract with Dave)
As a side note, Dave caught me at probably the most vulnerable moment of my life,,,,
as his plane landed here,,,,
about three days after I had taken my daughter & left my wife of 14 years.
My long hours of work, and many other stresses had taken their toll on my marriage,,,,,my whole world had exploded,and I was pretty much a "train wreck" emotionally at the time.
Anyways, I apologize to Dave about not being at my 100 percent capacity when I pick him up at the airport.
The following morning, he tells me his news about his new deal with GT40NA (bascially cutting me out of the picture),,,and then offers me a couple of choices,,,,,since I still have a deposit sitting in his bank now for nearly a YEAR.
He showed me Cad drawings of the proposed monocoque new generation cars, and gave a whole song and dance sales pitch aout how the mono would be built in NZ sent to NA and assembled there by indy car guys.
At that point my choices where to ,
#1 let them buy me out, and refund my deposit.
#2 wait so they can honor the deposit and ship me four kits.
#3 leave my deposit with them and it would be applied towards one of these "new generation" mono cars with a carbon body,351 engine and ZF box.
At the time, I looked at the options, I felt that the thrid was the best bet.
My reasons were that I am passionate about this car and still wanted to be involved with them.
I passed on the first option as my money had been sitting in a NZ bank for a year and making me nothing in return.
I also passed on waiting for them to finish the four kits, since I had waited a year, and frankly felt that Dave no longer considered my order a priority.
Sooooo, my deposit was then "applied" towards a GT40NA car.
I had beome concerned, but after having a few phone conversations with the NA guys, I checked them out and founfd them to be exactly weho they said they were....ie- a bunch of ex & current pro race folks looking to build sport cars.
I went to GT40NA for a visit to personally see the facility, and it was immaculate, as you would imagine.
They did finally finsih my cat which is car #4, yellow and black.
BUT, it was not a monocoque as that chassis was never tested and fully developed,,,,,,and it did NOT have the ZF box or pin drive wheels I was told it would have.
I was not pleased, and even less pleased to discover all of the issues I had to straighten out on my car once it arrived.
I ended up sending a two page fax of all the items I had to repair on my car,,,,,items that I know are also overlooked oon their other cars,,,,and took the car back to their facility to show them my improvements in May.
I had it there for their promotional weekend during the Ind pole day, and my "fax" was being whispered about by all the employess,,,,as most of them came to me and said that I did a hell of a job finding all the cars quirks/shortcomings so quickly. They were also impressed with my solutions to the oversights.
Of course, I found it interesting that they had my car displayed on the other side of the building from their most recent example.
That tactic didn't work too well as people kept coming to me saying how the yellow one seemed more refined in fit & finsh than the other cars displayed.
Anyways, the relationship between GT40NA and me has since gone south, because apparantly the fancy pro race indy car guys don't like some little independant teck from Kansas to tell them how to build a car properly.
I never became disrespectful or rude,,,but I was not afraid to point oput the many things that did not measure up on a car which costs over $100k.
I suppose this is why they stopped returning my phone calls.
It's their loss as I was explaining to one of the guys therew how to fix some of their screw ups.
I spent over 200 hours sorting out my NA car, and am confident it is the best prepped one out there, as I have seen nearly everyone of their cars.
They used to be assembled at the Derrick Walker racing facility, but that ceased about May or June of this year, and I know all the tooling/molds ended up at C&R racing radiators. I don't know who is putting them together now.
It is car number 4,,,,I think they have finished 7 to date.
I am/was a dealer for them (sort of),,,,,,,,it is a loooong story.
Do a search on GT40NZ and NA and you should be able to find some of the drama.
Basically, I was to be the original dealer/importer for GT40NZ in New Zealand.
I purchased one complete kit and sent a substantial deposit for four more when my first one arrived.
I had a contract with GT40NZ to buy a minimum of 8 kits a year, and spare parts as their USA dealer.
Bob (the owner of GT40NA) contacted GT40NZ and started inquiring about being the USA dealer, throwing numbers around like "100 cars" at a time etc,,,,,and all of the sudden I became too small a fish.
Dave Harvey (owner of GT40NZ) made a "side deal" with Bob (who now becomes-GT40NA) for a whole bunch of cars.
Of course, Bob, makes an even more substantial deposit than me, and he negotiates with Dave to be the sole USA rep for the cars,,,,,,,(essentially cutting me out of the picture.)
Now,during this time, I check about once every tow weeks on my "four kit order" and all of the sudden they are mysteriously behind schedule, and start down a long list of excuses.
Many months go by, (like 7 or 8) and my money is still in NZ, I have NO KITS, and no idea what they are up to.
In the meantime, I dsicover that they also have "sold" two kits to Denis on the east coast.
Denis,finally gets his two kits,,,,,,,one of which is forwarded to GT40NA and becomes GT40NA #1.
By now, Dave at GT40NZ is finally starting to hint to me at what he has done, buy tewlling me things like he has "exciting news" about a large warehouse distributor in the USA that I will be able to get my kits from instead of waiting on them to arrive from NZ.
More months go by and I still do not receive any kits, as they all end up at GT40NA. Of course most of them are no where near complete, as Dave (GT40NZ) seemed alot better at accepting deposits than delivering complete kits per order.
Sooo, the guys at GT40NA start improving the NZ car and make their own carbon fiber body.
By now, Dave comes to the US to visit and announces to me his great news about these indy car guys in Indianapolis (GT40NA) who have ordered like a hundred cars, and they now have the funding to build a monocoque with a carbon body,,,,and all in the world will be wonderful,,,,because all I have to do is order the cars from GT40NA and they will arrive complete and ready to drive. (which is the total opposite of my original contract with Dave)
As a side note, Dave caught me at probably the most vulnerable moment of my life,,,,
as his plane landed here,,,,
about three days after I had taken my daughter & left my wife of 14 years.
My long hours of work, and many other stresses had taken their toll on my marriage,,,,,my whole world had exploded,and I was pretty much a "train wreck" emotionally at the time.
Anyways, I apologize to Dave about not being at my 100 percent capacity when I pick him up at the airport.
The following morning, he tells me his news about his new deal with GT40NA (bascially cutting me out of the picture),,,and then offers me a couple of choices,,,,,since I still have a deposit sitting in his bank now for nearly a YEAR.
He showed me Cad drawings of the proposed monocoque new generation cars, and gave a whole song and dance sales pitch aout how the mono would be built in NZ sent to NA and assembled there by indy car guys.
At that point my choices where to ,
#1 let them buy me out, and refund my deposit.
#2 wait so they can honor the deposit and ship me four kits.
#3 leave my deposit with them and it would be applied towards one of these "new generation" mono cars with a carbon body,351 engine and ZF box.
At the time, I looked at the options, I felt that the thrid was the best bet.
My reasons were that I am passionate about this car and still wanted to be involved with them.
I passed on the first option as my money had been sitting in a NZ bank for a year and making me nothing in return.
I also passed on waiting for them to finish the four kits, since I had waited a year, and frankly felt that Dave no longer considered my order a priority.
Sooooo, my deposit was then "applied" towards a GT40NA car.
I had beome concerned, but after having a few phone conversations with the NA guys, I checked them out and founfd them to be exactly weho they said they were....ie- a bunch of ex & current pro race folks looking to build sport cars.
I went to GT40NA for a visit to personally see the facility, and it was immaculate, as you would imagine.
They did finally finsih my cat which is car #4, yellow and black.
BUT, it was not a monocoque as that chassis was never tested and fully developed,,,,,,and it did NOT have the ZF box or pin drive wheels I was told it would have.
I was not pleased, and even less pleased to discover all of the issues I had to straighten out on my car once it arrived.
I ended up sending a two page fax of all the items I had to repair on my car,,,,,items that I know are also overlooked oon their other cars,,,,and took the car back to their facility to show them my improvements in May.
I had it there for their promotional weekend during the Ind pole day, and my "fax" was being whispered about by all the employess,,,,as most of them came to me and said that I did a hell of a job finding all the cars quirks/shortcomings so quickly. They were also impressed with my solutions to the oversights.
Of course, I found it interesting that they had my car displayed on the other side of the building from their most recent example.
That tactic didn't work too well as people kept coming to me saying how the yellow one seemed more refined in fit & finsh than the other cars displayed.
Anyways, the relationship between GT40NA and me has since gone south, because apparantly the fancy pro race indy car guys don't like some little independant teck from Kansas to tell them how to build a car properly.
I never became disrespectful or rude,,,but I was not afraid to point oput the many things that did not measure up on a car which costs over $100k.
I suppose this is why they stopped returning my phone calls.
It's their loss as I was explaining to one of the guys therew how to fix some of their screw ups.
I spent over 200 hours sorting out my NA car, and am confident it is the best prepped one out there, as I have seen nearly everyone of their cars.
They used to be assembled at the Derrick Walker racing facility, but that ceased about May or June of this year, and I know all the tooling/molds ended up at C&R racing radiators. I don't know who is putting them together now.
all of this drama would have discouraged most folks,,,but there is an "upside".
My wife and I have reconciled and we are working together at improving our relationship.
She is much more involved in my life now, and I make sure and spend time at home instead of working myself to death.
I have totally dissected my NZ car, and thoroughly inspected examples from CAV,GTD,and the NA car,,,,,and decided that there was room for something better.
I now am working with the folks at Premier in Kansas City and we are developing our own US built GT.
Now, people in the USA who want a GT40 kit won't have to send large amounts of money overseas,,,,deal with being misled, or have to hassle with customs and freight charges.
The kits are being manufactured in Kansas City, in nearly the middle of the USA, so you can come by and check out the facility or the rpogress of your kit when ever you please.
No drama, no hassles, no broken promises!!!!
Finally, a place where you can get the car you've dreamed about since you were a kid!
My wife and I have reconciled and we are working together at improving our relationship.
She is much more involved in my life now, and I make sure and spend time at home instead of working myself to death.
I have totally dissected my NZ car, and thoroughly inspected examples from CAV,GTD,and the NA car,,,,,and decided that there was room for something better.
I now am working with the folks at Premier in Kansas City and we are developing our own US built GT.
Now, people in the USA who want a GT40 kit won't have to send large amounts of money overseas,,,,deal with being misled, or have to hassle with customs and freight charges.
The kits are being manufactured in Kansas City, in nearly the middle of the USA, so you can come by and check out the facility or the rpogress of your kit when ever you please.
No drama, no hassles, no broken promises!!!!
Finally, a place where you can get the car you've dreamed about since you were a kid!
Hello Alain, My whole ordeal with the GT40NZ lasted about 0ne year.I believe Dave was trying his best to do the right thing. The car building business is very complex and I think many upstarts are underestimating the scope involved in manufacturing cars.I did receive all items from Dave, even after GT40NA took over and forced him out of the picture.As a matter of fact, I just received a replacement door latch from Dave this week to replce a bad one! As for your new venture, I am hopeful that you can be sucessful at it.It seems to me that you've been around enough to know how to buid a great Gt and what the industry really needs. Good Luck Alain
Jim Rosenthal
Supporter
Alain, good luck to you on both of these endeavors. Cars can easily sideline family if you let them...my boat complains bitterly all the time. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif ERA have been the only ones that I can think of that are consistently and steadily building a GT40 type car in the USA. They have seen a lot of others come and go. Mostly go. They are also very busy, so there is no doubt room for other domestic manufacturers.
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