Wow! I am quite surprised at the passion this car has pulled from the Forum. I happen to be GIO, or James, and own this car. I was an early member of the Forum, when I originally tried to help numerous Forum members with their exhaust problems they had with a guy named George, who had taken a lot of Forum member's money, then produced very little or no exhaust parts. At that time I had exhaust systems ready to ship , yet not one Forum member even emailed or called to ask a single question about what I had available. I found that very curious.
But for the matter at hand, I thought I'd try to answer some of the questions/complaints that members have written:
The Price: I specifically instructed Classic Auto Showplace to present the car under "offers being accepted" terms. I wanted the market to determine the selling price, in other words, it will sell if an offer ends up matching the value that the car has to me, personally. But that value is something I consider private. Thus, no listed selling price. As well, I don't mean in any way to disparage Classic Auto Showplace. Dave Klak, owner, is a great guy, very honest, as far as my involvement with him. I asked Dave to focus on all of the things that I believe add to the value of the car, outside of being based on an ERA. As C.A.S. earns its living on commissions of sold cars, I think his personnel are being aggressive, pushing the envelope, when quoting $250K. But we all know, you can never ask for more.
The Provenance: I don't believe that I have ever intentionally tried to obscure the fact that a good part of this car is ERA. Whenever I have had any serious discussion about this car with an interested party, its ERA "heritage" has always been part of the dicsussion. Ask Fran Hall. Or Gordon Good. Or Lyn Larson. Or Doug Kirk. (Thank you, Doug, for all of your help over the years!)
The Ford Connection: Many of you know that Ford Of England owns an original GT40, which chassis number escapes me at the moment. This car has been in Ford's ownership since the day it was manufactured by FAV or JWE. It was in Dearborn in late 2000/early 2001 and was being utilized by the Petunia design team as the design guide for Petunia (I assume you all know Petunia). Ford of England called it back early 2001, before the desing team was able to translate the soul of the GT40 to the Petunia clay model. Some of you have probably seen photos of Petunia as it existed in the spring of 2001. It is pictured in Edsall's Ford GT book on pages 44/51. As it has been related to me by the Ford GT Chief Engineer, the Petunia design team fully lost their way on the clay by summer 2001, without that design guide. (I think we can all be happy that this wasn't the car Ford tried to produce as the Ford GT). Ford became aware of my car and I was contacted by the Chief Engineer with a request to bring it to Dearborn, September 2001. While my car was in the design center, the Petunia design team re-calibrated their thinking with my car as their reference, and found a path back to the spririt or soul of the GT40 in the clay model that ultimatley became the Ford GT concept (I believe the photo on page 69 was taken on one of the days I and my car were in that studio). The Ford GT chief designer related an interesting story to me, that one day the team was milling about the rear of my car, when they suddenly saw the key design element, that when translated to the clay, all the rest of the pieces fell into place, and today we have the Ford GT. I'd say my car played a fairly significant, essential role.
As for the photo on page 70, with Ben Levy's car in the background, well, there's a whole nother story behind that. Ready? ...In, I recall, late October of 2001, 2 months after my car arrived at the design center, a "Ford 100 Years Of Racing" celebration took place at Greenfield Village, in Dearborn. Photos here:
Shelby American Automobile Club - Motor City Region - Ford 100 Years of Racing - Photo Gallery . The show was populated by all manner of Ford racing vehicles (by invitation) and many famous drivers like Dan Gurney and Jackie Stewart. Ford, or more precisely, one of Ford's advertising agencies managing the event, contacted me to request my car being present. It turned out that several GT40's showed up, including a couple of Mark IVs, some Mark IIs, some Mark Is, including Ben Levy's Mark I. The Ford GT Chief Designer met Levy that weekned, and Levy offered him unrestricted use of his car in exchange for winter storage. I also seem to remember that Ben had some issue come up related to transporting the car back to PA (or is Ben in MA?). Anyway, I had my car back from Ford for this event and Ford had Levy's car now at their discretion, so that shifted the "Design Guide" focus from my car to Levy's, however, by this time the Cheif Designer was pretty much done with the Ford GT design.
Shows and Concours': I was eager to have Ford use my car for the Press Preview of the new Ford GT during press days of the 2002 NAIAS, as well as in their actual NAIAS stand where the Ford GT concept was displayed, however, I was told Jay Mays' (some of you may know who he is) ultimate decision was that my car was just too nice and the wrong color, that they weren't going to risk any attention being drawn for the pale yellow Ford GT concept. The photo of my car behind railing in one of the previous posts was in fact taken at Designer Night, January 2002, which is a private party sponsored that year by Ford, held in conjunction with the North American International Auto Show, and attended mostly by the international design community. I believe as a consolation to the press preview and auto show decisions, I was asked if Ford could use my car as a display (along with Levy's, and the Lotus 48(?, Clark's Indy Winner) and Mark IV (Gurney/Foyt) owned by Henry Ford Museum) and was the first of several PR activities for which Ford used my car, including the Ford 100 Birthday where the first 3 production GTs were debuted, up through 2005. At that Designer Night party, the Car Selection Committee Chairman for Meadowbrook, introduced himslef and asked if I would be interested in participating in the summer 2002 event. I did not have any discussion at that time about the origins or make up of my car, but in June I was invited to show the car at that summer's event. During judging I was asked about the car's race history (as I was placed in the Race class, duh) and clearly stated to the three judges (don't recall who they were, but they are often auto industry executives) that the car had no race history, as it was a replica. They didn't seem to care, but of course, I won no award. That it was a replica has seemed to be no issue with Meadowbrook officials, as I have been invited to the event again, both in 2004 and 2006. Kieth Martin (some of you may know who he is) was one of the 2006 judges for the Race class, and he thanked me for being honest about the car being a replica. He answers a lot of emails (even from me), he may comment on this if you ask, he seemd to be impressed that my car was one of the Ford Design Guide vehicles for the new Ford GT and he may remember our conversation. No judge was ever told my car was an original GT40, whether in an attempt to win some award, or not.
Interstingly enough, Larry Smith (I doubt many of you would know him, he's a local foreign/exotic body shop owner), the car selection committee and event Chairman for the inaugural 2003 Cranbrook Concours (a "splinter group from Meadowbrook" event that competes with Meadowbrook), was fully aware of my car's "provenance" (or lack thereof, in some of your minds) when he invited me to show my car at that event. That it is a replica seemed to make no difference as I was invited back in 2005.
The Back Story: I started collecting parts in 1984, when working at Ford. (By the way, I didn't live in Germany or Europe, as one of the posts reported, just worked for a German company and traveled to Europe regularly for a few years. And my ZF T/A came new directly from ZF in Zuefenhausen, not from RBT, whoever that is. ZF was a customer of my company.) A partial original chassis (NO, regardless how suspicious or cooky it sounds, I won't divulge its number or any other details) came my way, as the impetus to this endeavor. I learned of ERA's plans for a GT40 replica in 1985 and bought one (yes, it was a steel monocoque). My goal was only to satisfy my own personal dream to own a GT40, and I embarked on creating the most accurate rendition of a Mark I that I could achieve. For my own personal gratification, and nothing more. The more original parts the better. Well, 22 years later, I've satisfied all of my desires to own and race a GT40 and I'm ready to move on. Is there someone out there who will see the same value in this car as I do and provide the justification ($$$) to me to sell it? Well, that's what I've asked Dave Klak to find out, and I don't mind that he's focusing on all the things that make this a unique replica to own, again though, aside from the ERA part. I don't beleive it's wrong to ask someone to consider the car on the basis of all the original parts on it, or of its part in the Ford GT program, or of its participation in the mid-west version of Pebble Beach. But , for what ever it might be worth to you guys, the person who does put up some money, will be provided with all the documentation and details that make up this car, even the ERA receipt, well before any checks are cashed. So, there!
The Mistakes: Since this seems to be such a controversy, let me be the first one to admit that I suppose I have made a couple of mistakes. I have gotten a bit tired of all the "Is it a real GT40" questions at events, so I've had some fun just answering, "Of course it's real". Yeah, Yeah, I know, how could I? Well, at the time it seemed like a bit of fun to just answer, "Of course it's a real car" in my mind (hopefully you catch my drift here). I didn't think I'd be doing any harm in not deflating the guy who had paid $40 to walk Meadowbrook for example, to find a replica, instead of a real GT40.
I also was remiss with Barry Mequire (some of you should know who he is). If any of you have ever been interviewed by Barry, you know that he is an un-scripted guy and has an in-your-face interview style. When he's asking you questions, he and his mic are so close you feel like you're about to be kissed. I am not attempting to disparage Barry either, I found him to be a very warm and genuine person. But with his fast pace the process is a bit intimidating. Well, he cornered the Ford GT Chief Designer and I at Meadowbrook in 2004 and interviewed us with my car and a Ford GT in the background (some of you may have actually seen the subject Car Crazy episode). Before I realized we were talking and answering questions about my "real" GT40, he and his crew were finished and gone. I didn't realize the extent of my fuax paus (is that how you spell that?) until I saw the episode on Speedvision. Well, you live and learn I guess.
I am sure I missed covering something from the three pages of posts, so, I encourage any of you to send me an email if there are any questions or comments you feel compelled to further ask or say. I
will respond to any I receive.
I trust that all of you are goodhearted enough to recognize my few feeble attempts at some humor. If not, I appologize if you're in any way slighted or insulted. To those of you who have supported me on this thread, Thank You! To those of you who have picked on me, I hope this info gives you some pause and patience with me.
By the way, if anyone is interested in GT40 body panels, please see my post in the Parts for Sale section of the Forum. I am still trying to get photos on the Forum, maybe this weekend.
