Hello from Vero Beach, FL

E

Ernie Hughes

Hello
Well, I have finally joined up to your magnificent Forum after several years of addictively viewing all the many fantastic posts.
Lived in UK all my life but retired early and now living with daughter outside Vero Beach Florida after a 4 week summer holiday turned into a 5 year stay aftre I refused to go back !
Trained at my Fathers workshop in London from late 60's mainly on Astons & Lotus's but also on couple of GT40's so have always been a fan.
Still visit the UK regularly each year to keep grandkids in check and catch up with old pals in the trade.
Best regards everyone.
Ernie
 
M

Jack

Hi Ernie, welcome!
I'm just a few miles north in Palm Bay should you like to see an RCR SL-C in progress.
 
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Ernie Hughes

Morning !
That would be nice at some point. Thank you. Maybe after summer once I am back from travels with the family.
Best of Luck with the project
Ernie
 
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Andrew Komosa

Welcome Ernie from a rather chilly UK. I'm interested to learn where the garage was located in London, as I'm trying to trace some GT40 history. Can you recall which chassis numbers, or have you got any records still after all these years? I'm mainly interested in a GT40 which passed through a small independant dealer before travelling to Europe and onto the USA. Thanks.. Andrew
 
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Ernie Hughes

Evening Andrew
Thanks for the welcome message. I am heading to Cologne for a few days soon and then travelling over to Northampton in about a weeks' time to stay with family for a while so hopefuly the UK weather will warm up a bit by then.
To be honest the old grey matter is not performing like it used to and this all seems a long time ago. We didnt have any car sales dealership so I dont think I can help you with any records like that as we just had a small workshop with storeage facility behind. I think there were two different GT40's which passed through us. One was just stored by us for a short time and I think the other was a quick in & out job with a cylinder gasket leak or something but both came in from an old family friend at the time in Clapham who had all the customer contacts. Unfortunately I have no recollection about chassi numbers as these were not our own customers' cars so we wouldnt have been given much info anyway but I will try to have a rummage thro the old diaries once I am back home in case I can find anything else.
Rgds, Ern
 
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Andrew Komosa

Hi Earnie, your comment about a garage in Clapham is interesting. Can you think back, was one of the GT40s previously fire damaged? This would have been during the late 1960s or early 1970s. It might have been red, but resprayed blue at some point, perhaps during a rebuild. Its chassis number is "P/1042", if that helps the old grey matter? If you're in the UK on your travels, you can call me on 0759751320, as I'm desparately trying to trace the history of this car back before the late 1980s. Any help would be most welcome.. Andrew
 
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Ernie Hughes

Hi Andrew
Difficult to answer decisively - the Fords we had in our own workshop&yard were not fire damaged. The only fire damaged car we had in was a lola T70 which came back at least twice with minor engine fires due to it being run without weber baffles. From memory one of the fords that came in was white and that one went into storage for a short while - I think that was being sold and shipped out to a new customer. The other ford was red and that was the one that had the head gasket issue. This car did apperently go up in a cloud of steam so maybe this is the one you were thinking of? I have no idea on chassis numbers of these without rummaging throgh my old notebooks but will have a look for you. The only fire damaged GT40 I remember was dealt with by my old pal John. This car came in a year or so later, also red I think, maybe even the same car but not sure. He had this at his workshop for a short while before it was sent to the usa from europe (or vice versa). I assume it was taken back to slough at some point but have no way of checking as this was all handled directly by John and his own partner who had all the contacts with the FAV & the customers but John sadly passed away many years ago so unless his son knows anything then I cant think how to help trace this. The only other damaged car I remember was the remains of a badly bashed up tub we stored for a few months or so, also in late 60s which Mountfields bodyshop delivered back to us after they had supposed to be arranging to repair it but ended up just stripping apart the panels before falling out with the owners and dumping it back with us as a small pile of scrap tin! I dont think this was in a fire though, just bad accident damage.
I am likly to be staying in europe for a couple more months as I have another op lined up at the end of July so will probably stay here for the summer to recouporate after. I didnt' keep much in the way of records from the old business but most of what I kept is at my daughters place in florida so it will have to wait until I am back there before I can look through anything but if you send me a private message then I will try to pick this up next week and pass your details onto Johns' son who may be able to help identify what cars these were as he cleared all his fathers old stuff out so maybe he has something still. Sorry to be so vague.

Best regards
Ern
 
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Ernie Hughes

Todd/Andrew/Jon/Phil/../..
Sorry for late reply, too much travelling lately. Ref everyones' PMs & posts if you all mean the loose GT40 panels that then these were just the remains from the damaged ford chassis that Mountfields collected & stripped for my old pals John & Vic. No idea what happend to this as all this got cleared out by Johns' son when the place closed.
Jon - It wasnt me that cut it apart so please dont criticise, remember these things had no use back in those days, in any case whoever took it apart had virtually hacked these panels off so all the loose ones were not usable or repairable anyway.
Phil - I will try anmd find out wher he is but it is years back since I last spoke with him and it is unlikley he would have kept anything like this.
I will follow up in couple weeks as am booked to have my op next week so will be out of action for a while.
Rgds Ern
 
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