Hi all, my name is Darren and I’m a GT40oholic. I've decided to join this forum to get me motivated to finish my DRB GT40 project.
Well, what can I tell you that has led me to this point that I’m at right now, did you ever as a kid have a poster on your wall of something that you really liked and told yourself every day that one day you would own one? Well mine was the iconic mk1 gt40 in Gulf colours! Back in NZ I saved for what I thought was forever and brought a GT40 kit from an orchid farmer second hand, I was so proud of myself I finally had the car of my dreams, or so I thought after getting it and then finding out the manufacture had gone out of business and there was no paper work to say that it could be registered and no construction manual or any help from anyone.
I still battled on, getting it on four wheels and an engine in it which was a Ford 289 with 4 Webbers (but later went EFI) and a Renault 4 speed out of a truck and that’s about as far as I got till life’s minor issues got in the way and I had to sell my baby and move to Australia. I started my new life in Central Auz and always had a yearning for the car that I let go, after moving to the Gold Coast and getting myself sorted I decided to buy myself a birthday present in the form of a DRB GT40 - some call it retail therapy I call it “just cause I wanted it”, so there in my garage was the beginnings of my new baby just a body and frame and a box of odds and ends.
I started the build straight away with a lot of enthusiasm and got the suspension on it and some of the inside but then some of my neighbors… (no - one of the newer neighbors) didn't like the fact that I was younger than him, lived in the same street and was building a sports car so he made the build as hard as possible by calling the cops and the local Council and complaining every time that the garage door was open even though the authorities said I was doing nothing wrong. It grows thin very quickly so the build was done in secret behind closed doors a little at a time but very very slowly. Working 2 weeks away and 1 week at home didn't help either. Now we have moved to Mount Isa to have a change from the Gold Coast with no neighbors to complain… I can build the car of my dreams! So that is how I got here, congrats to those of you who read it. I'll start the build log with stuff that I've already done to bring you all up to speed.
First was to sort out what I had and to make it look pretty, so off to the polishers to make the front end look shiny and as they did that, I got all new bushes and wheel bearings from the States. Being that the front suspension is from a Corvette and the rear is custom but uses Corvette brakes and hubs, once the front arms were back, I needed to fit the bushes (not the easiest of jobs) but done and fitted to the car.
Next was the lights, I went for LED tail lights in original style because they look nice and are brighter. I figured if someone sees a GT40 driving down the road they aren’t going to be looking at the brake lights and I don’t want a 4WD attached to the rear of my car. For the repeaters I went for Falcon ones just for something different, for something completely different for the head lights I decided to try and fit some lights from a late model car to them (sounds like it would look odd but bear with me on this) first was Mazda 3 head lights but after starting I didn't like the way the inside light cut down, so next was Mazda 6 MPS lights, these had potential but the high and low beams were on the outer edges of the lights so after a lot off cutting and grinding I got them fitted and wired them up to see how they looked… still wasn't completely happy with the look but more on that later.
Well, what can I tell you that has led me to this point that I’m at right now, did you ever as a kid have a poster on your wall of something that you really liked and told yourself every day that one day you would own one? Well mine was the iconic mk1 gt40 in Gulf colours! Back in NZ I saved for what I thought was forever and brought a GT40 kit from an orchid farmer second hand, I was so proud of myself I finally had the car of my dreams, or so I thought after getting it and then finding out the manufacture had gone out of business and there was no paper work to say that it could be registered and no construction manual or any help from anyone.
I still battled on, getting it on four wheels and an engine in it which was a Ford 289 with 4 Webbers (but later went EFI) and a Renault 4 speed out of a truck and that’s about as far as I got till life’s minor issues got in the way and I had to sell my baby and move to Australia. I started my new life in Central Auz and always had a yearning for the car that I let go, after moving to the Gold Coast and getting myself sorted I decided to buy myself a birthday present in the form of a DRB GT40 - some call it retail therapy I call it “just cause I wanted it”, so there in my garage was the beginnings of my new baby just a body and frame and a box of odds and ends.
I started the build straight away with a lot of enthusiasm and got the suspension on it and some of the inside but then some of my neighbors… (no - one of the newer neighbors) didn't like the fact that I was younger than him, lived in the same street and was building a sports car so he made the build as hard as possible by calling the cops and the local Council and complaining every time that the garage door was open even though the authorities said I was doing nothing wrong. It grows thin very quickly so the build was done in secret behind closed doors a little at a time but very very slowly. Working 2 weeks away and 1 week at home didn't help either. Now we have moved to Mount Isa to have a change from the Gold Coast with no neighbors to complain… I can build the car of my dreams! So that is how I got here, congrats to those of you who read it. I'll start the build log with stuff that I've already done to bring you all up to speed.
First was to sort out what I had and to make it look pretty, so off to the polishers to make the front end look shiny and as they did that, I got all new bushes and wheel bearings from the States. Being that the front suspension is from a Corvette and the rear is custom but uses Corvette brakes and hubs, once the front arms were back, I needed to fit the bushes (not the easiest of jobs) but done and fitted to the car.
Next was the lights, I went for LED tail lights in original style because they look nice and are brighter. I figured if someone sees a GT40 driving down the road they aren’t going to be looking at the brake lights and I don’t want a 4WD attached to the rear of my car. For the repeaters I went for Falcon ones just for something different, for something completely different for the head lights I decided to try and fit some lights from a late model car to them (sounds like it would look odd but bear with me on this) first was Mazda 3 head lights but after starting I didn't like the way the inside light cut down, so next was Mazda 6 MPS lights, these had potential but the high and low beams were on the outer edges of the lights so after a lot off cutting and grinding I got them fitted and wired them up to see how they looked… still wasn't completely happy with the look but more on that later.
Attachments
Last edited:
