Hi everyone,
HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY TO OUR FORD GT40!
Sincere apologies for having been absent from the forum for so long - and even more sincere apologies for the continued absence of my new book from your bookshelves. Grovelling apology will get posted soon, complete with explanation, but I promise you all the wait for the new book will be forgiven when you see it. Last year was a non-year for me, which my apology/explanation will tell you about soon, but back up to full speed again this year, and this year you will see the results of all these years of research. I am now a 60-year old, and it pains me that I reached that milestone before reaching my other one of the new book being published.
Enough on my problems for now.
My reason for picking up the figurative pen today is because despite everything else going on GT40-wise in my life just now, there was no way I could let 1st April 2014 pass without wishing the GT40 a Happy 50th Birthday!
I won't say 50 years old today, I say 50 years young. As in its first 50 years the GT40 simply has not aged one jot. Seeing the vast array of GT40s assembled at Goodwood for the Revival meeting last year was wonderful (with apologies to those of you who saw the bits of my interview with Goodwood TV which made it through to the final cut; the interviewer had a list of general questions, and I have spent all these years dealing in specifics, so I often had no answer for him, which felt very awkward. I understood it, but I don't think he did. But then he had the good fortune not to be me!). Back to the joy of seeing so many GT40s, but what struck me was how often I was told by people that they thought the GT40 looked as new now as it did when it was being built and raced back in the day. And if the styling of the GT40 has not aged in the first 50 years, though I won't be around at the end of the next 50, I have no reason to believe that the GT40 will even be looking old then.
What a testament to the styling that was produced at the Ford drawing boards all those years ago.
Anyway, now that I am back on board the forum, I will try to put in regular appearances - time and distraction-allowance from the new book permitting.
But I simply had to write today to celebrate the 50th Birthday of the GT40.
In a way, its kind of a birthday celebration for all of us.
The very best to you all,
Ronnie
HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY TO OUR FORD GT40!
Sincere apologies for having been absent from the forum for so long - and even more sincere apologies for the continued absence of my new book from your bookshelves. Grovelling apology will get posted soon, complete with explanation, but I promise you all the wait for the new book will be forgiven when you see it. Last year was a non-year for me, which my apology/explanation will tell you about soon, but back up to full speed again this year, and this year you will see the results of all these years of research. I am now a 60-year old, and it pains me that I reached that milestone before reaching my other one of the new book being published.
Enough on my problems for now.
My reason for picking up the figurative pen today is because despite everything else going on GT40-wise in my life just now, there was no way I could let 1st April 2014 pass without wishing the GT40 a Happy 50th Birthday!
I won't say 50 years old today, I say 50 years young. As in its first 50 years the GT40 simply has not aged one jot. Seeing the vast array of GT40s assembled at Goodwood for the Revival meeting last year was wonderful (with apologies to those of you who saw the bits of my interview with Goodwood TV which made it through to the final cut; the interviewer had a list of general questions, and I have spent all these years dealing in specifics, so I often had no answer for him, which felt very awkward. I understood it, but I don't think he did. But then he had the good fortune not to be me!). Back to the joy of seeing so many GT40s, but what struck me was how often I was told by people that they thought the GT40 looked as new now as it did when it was being built and raced back in the day. And if the styling of the GT40 has not aged in the first 50 years, though I won't be around at the end of the next 50, I have no reason to believe that the GT40 will even be looking old then.
What a testament to the styling that was produced at the Ford drawing boards all those years ago.
Anyway, now that I am back on board the forum, I will try to put in regular appearances - time and distraction-allowance from the new book permitting.
But I simply had to write today to celebrate the 50th Birthday of the GT40.
In a way, its kind of a birthday celebration for all of us.
The very best to you all,
Ronnie