Are any replicas feasible as daily drivers?

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

It is possible to steal and part/fence a high end/specialty car. Penske had the Lola T70 coupe that they ran at Daytona stolen on the way back to Philly. It was on a Ford L700 truck at the time but not in an enclosed body. Still missing to this day as far as I know. Wait until that chassis number shows upon eBay!

While I am not paranoid and beleive car alarms to be a great waste of money (ever hear one going off in the mall parking lot? Anyone pay attention?) I suggest an extra fuel pump cutoff switch and the removable steering wheel serves two purposes, easy access and very difficult to drive away a car with no wheel. That said, if a pro wants the car consider it gone...Flatbeds and whatever it takes will be used.

Rick

 

[Howard Jones]

OK! OK! But you got to admit you would'nt want "her to cut the grass" now would you. I just don't think I could bear creeping along at 10-15mph in first gear on the freeway. She just just wants to run! No I understand you guys but I am really looking forward to that first drive down highway 1 from halfmoon bay to santacruz. God gotta get back into the garage! Oh and I'll park it in front of the resturant where I can see it! I want to say I really enjoy you guys and the friendship this hobbie has brought with it!! What the hell!!!!!! Drive Em If you got Em!!

[ February 18, 2003: Message edited by: Howard Jones ]

 

Low Jack has a beeper to trace the car. They report a 90% return of the car for those reported within the first hour (or so).

Have fun!

John

 

as far as an alarm is concerned, you can get nice ones that will cut off your starter motor

so what happens if they get in? good luck

i gotta stop coming to this forum, at the rate i read this stuff im gonna have a kit done before im 20

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bill Bayard:
"...way below average gas mileage..." <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hmmm. I was wondering about that myself. I am hoping that the single-donor car will get around 20-30 mpg. The driveline is more-or-less unchanged, but the weight of the car should be quite a bit lighter, so shouldn't the mileage remain unchanged?

Just curious.

Your pal,
Meat.

[ February 20, 2003: Message edited by: meat ]

 

[Jim Glickenhaus]

At LeMans according to the Shelby post race engineering reports J6 got 5.4 miles to the gallon.

 

[Steve Toner]

Yes, and my Eagle Talon used to get about 6 MPG at Laguna Seca (actually, I measured in GPH at the track rather than MPG, so about 10 GPH), but about 20 getting there.

It all depends on how you drive it

 

[Jim Glickenhaus]

I think my Cigarette wins this one: 1MPG

 

[Gary Gibbs]

What about TF dragster? 10-15 gal per 1/4 mile. It consumes half the fuel rate of the Queen Mary at cruise speed!

 

[Howard Jones]

I was talking to a Insurance guy at the Good Guys last fall and he said somthing about if you wanted to keep the rates down you had to park it in a locked garage. Also the lower rates these "Hot Rods" enjoy usually limmit miles per year to a rather low total. Something on the order of 5000 miles a year and the 40 can't be the primary car on the policy. My car is about 80% complete now and my homeowners will no longer cover a "assembled" car in the garage but any parts that are not attached to the car are covered as property in the home. This brings up a important subject. Insurance issues should be considered from the date you take delivery of the kit if not before. You could loose a great deal of money in a fire should your nearly complete $60,000 kit burn up in the garage. Anyway I thought this insurance subject might have some bearing on the daily driver question.

 

[Brett James-McCall]

Re the windscreen wipers. I was in one of Ford's GT's last October over in the Technical Centre @ Dunton.... it had two windscreen wipers

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

Jim,

Between the Cigarette, MK IV, Ferraris and the rest of your fleet are you sure you are not arbitraging for Suadi Arabia?

While the actual MPG may not be good, these toys are superb at turning fossil fuel into useable heat energy and reducing rubber and carbon black into visable stripes upon the roadway.

Rick

 

[Jim Glickenhaus]

Rick
So true, so true.
Best
Jim

 

[Ian K]

Heh, you know, with all this fuel cell
talk catching on, I was wondering ...
a GT40 might make a nice platform for
a fuel cell vehicle.

Maybe, in a decade or so, I'll give it a
try? Of course, I'll first have a regular
ol' dinosaur burner first

Ian

 

[James Shaw]

Funny finding this thread after all these years.. yes, I built a GTD40 back in 90-93, and put on around 60,000 miles before selling it for a ridiculously cheap price to fund the next project. It was my only car, and I drove it a lot! Certainly to work, but then I always took the long way back

Now I'm building a Factory Five 33 hot rod (but it's as much race car as the GTD was, space frame chassis, etc). And I'll drive this daily too - but next on my list after this (I won't be selling the hotrod) will probably be an RCR 40. At first glance they seem to be the best balance for quality vs money nowadays - but that's partly why I'm here.

I'm looking forward to reading through these forums..

 

[Denis Bedford]

James I did the same about 1995 and clocked up just on 100,000 k's always took the long way home lived about 10 mins from the factory and got home two hrs later, sold mine also, missed it more than any car I have owned and I have owned a lot
that's why I am right in the middle of building another can't wait to do a Willy Nelson

 

[James Shaw]

James I did the same about 1995 and clocked up just on 100,000 k's always took the long way home lived about 10 mins from the factory and got home two hrs later, sold mine also, missed it more than any car I have owned and I have owned a lot
that's why I am right in the middle of building another can't wait to do a Willy Nelson

Cool! Seems it's common to come back around to one of these once you've owned one. What make did you choose this time around?

 

[Denis Bedford]

James, back then I owned DRB Sportscars and drove one of my own (DRB GT40) I sold the business to Peter Ransom about 20 years ago, Peter as I has also retired and the GT40 business has passed to a very capable Warren Kopelke who everybody calls " Pelke" I designed a new all aluminium chassis for Pelke and he commenced production just recently , he also builds Cobra Replicas

 

[Andrew B]

James, back then I owned DRB Sportscars and drove one of my own (DRB GT40) I sold the business to Peter Ransom about 20 years ago, Peter as I has also retired and the GT40 business has passed to a very capable Warren Kopelke who everybody calls " Pelke" I designed a new all aluminium chassis for Pelke and he commenced production just recently , he also builds Cobra Replicas

DRB - High Performance Sportscars | AC Cobra | GT40 | DRB540

DRB Sportscars Australia manufacture and build quality replica cars including the DRB AC Cobra, Ford GT40, DRB 540 (Modern Cobra), and D-Type Jaguar Replica using GRP and Carbon Fibre over tubular steel chassis. Call today.

www.drbsportscars.com

"DRB Sports Cars have just completed and delivered our last Cobra body/chassis unit (number 375) and are closing down our factory.
All of the GT40 and Cobra jigs, tooling, IP, body moulds and some parts are available and we are open to any reasonable offers."

Looks like DRB might be shutting down

 

[Brian Kissel]

Denis explained in post 38, that he sold the business nearly 20 years ago to Peter Ransom, and he has also retired and the business was sold. All in Denis’s explanation above.

Regards Brian