Is a GT40 replica a reasonable weekend car?

I've got a SPF MKII and from experience i can tell you it makes a fantastic weekender. Like others have said, reliability is up to your skills as a builder and attention to detail. I've got two luggage boxes in the rear of my car that Olthof built. He's a reputable builder/fabricator for our 40's. The wife and I can comfortably get away for 3-4 days in the car. From experience the wife's make-up goes in the door with her. Don't ask me how I know...:furious:
 

Dave Hood

Lifetime Supporter
I've put almost 8,000 miles on my GT40 in the last three years, but I'm very hesitant to leave it in a parking lot and just walk away for any length of time. The car draws so much attention, and it would only take one moron to do something that could cost me thousands to repair. Particularly since there are no door locks.
 
I don't think reasonable people buy a GT 40 .I think passionate buy and keep a GT 40.
I have driven already about 16000 miles with the car . On the street and I also campaign it in the belgian historic cup.Which make it a very versatile car.
I have driven several times to le mans,reims and the uk.If you like sitting cramped with all the Luggage around you,getting wet,getting hot it sure is a weekend car if your lady can live with that.
But one thing is for sure you will never have another car that is so rewarding as a GT40.The attention it everywhere gets even a recreation is overwhelming.And it seems anybody loves the GT40.
And what the reliability is well its like any car .If the build is good and the maintenance is looked after well I see no greater problems than a modern car.
When a problem arrives its easy to repair on the road something what can't be said for a modern car.
 

Mike

Lifetime Supporter
I'm doing my best to contain myself here but door locks on a GT40? For? How about cup holders for a latte?
 

Rick Muck- Mark IV

GT40s Sponsor
Supporter
I'm doing my best to contain myself here but door locks on a GT40? For? How about cup holders for a latte?

Mike,

Door locks were standard on the street coupes. And as many here are driving their cars a lot, the security is a benefit. I know of one owner who returned to his car after a lunch to find people sitting in his car taking pictures! One of the systems we will offer is a keyless remote locking setup so no exterior locks, the other will have exterior locks as per the FAV street coupes.

Anyone who drinks a FiveBucks mochafrappalattechino in a GT deserves a "hot crotch" full of cafe'.
 
I've got a SPF MKII and from experience i can tell you it makes a fantastic weekender. Like others have said, reliability is up to your skills as a builder and attention to detail. I've got two luggage boxes in the rear of my car that Olthof built. He's a reputable builder/fabricator for our 40's. The wife and I can comfortably get away for 3-4 days in the car. From experience the wife's make-up goes in the door with her. Don't ask me how I know...:furious:
First let me say the SPF MkII is very comfortable to ride in for distances. The ride was surprisingly better that expected. I have the same two FIA boxes in the rear and a smaller aluminum one up front mounted to the chassis. I have found the there is considerable unused space in the passengers toe box area. I sometimes carry a low profile floor jack in that area or soft clothing carriers. Also one rear box has a false floor which sets a 2-quart Accsump oil unit used to pressure file 2 quarts of oil when the engine is started.
As long as your passenger isn't a clothes horse or must have 4 pair of shoes a day, you'll do well traveling around.
I also find that I my self up at night checking the car even though it is twice disabled. Most places don't mind to have you leave the car in the unloading zone overnight where a lobby camera is running.
 

Attachments

  • ALIM0303.jpg
    ALIM0303.jpg
    163.5 KB · Views: 324
Continuation of your questions.

Tires AVONs 15" rims Michelin Pilot SuperSports for 17"

All parts are easily available except maybe rims.

Registered as 1966, but depends on your state an laws.

Easy to work on...I say sometimes it is so easy to see the part you want to work on, but it isn't so easy to get to. Luckily, speaking for myself, I don't have to fix many things. Change the oil and filter. Changing the coolant can be a challenge because of the total size of the system and different elevations (air) but it is a learned process. I use slippage marks and wire safeties. I use a four post lifts and can see areas at different levels. Check for tightness of bolts (slippage marks again). The lift makes it easy to keep the underneath clean ans the top. I use plastic caps on the backsides of the open wheel bearings to help keep the dust out.

I'm biased by owning four Superformance cars.

I must admit, others will too, it is a beautiful thing to be underneath with a shop light. You'll never grow tired of looking over your shoulder at the 40 when you walk away.
 
Last edited:

Seymour Snerd

Lifetime Supporter
With my SPF I guess for every eight hours I drive it I spend an hour or two doing clean-up & maintenance. .

13 to 25% maintenance time? Wow that is one f--ked up car. But then this is the one that the Hi-Tech guys built while they were drunk or high, right?

To the OP: never mind this one....he's obviously unlucky. Or something.
 

Mike

Lifetime Supporter
13 to 25% maintenance time? Wow that is one f--ked up car. But then this is the one that the Hi-Tech guys built while they were drunk or high, right?

To the OP: never mind this one....he's obviously unlucky. Or something.
No need to use that sort of lowbrowed language Al. Is that investment in time absolutely required? Probably not but I like to keep all my cars in top mechanical condition. You could eat off the drivetrain or chassis, it's kept that clean inside and out. Checking it over thoroughly is something I enjoy doing in-between the weekend drives. Its quality time spent in my book. I'll do more in maintenance and enhancements while it's put up for the winter than you have probably done in your lifetime Al. I'm okay with that. Let me know if I can help you get yours finally completed and on the road. Be happy to bring you up to speed on some of the more difficult and complex aspects of maintenance & ownership that might be holding you back. I'm here to help just let me know.
 

Seymour Snerd

Lifetime Supporter
No need to use that sort of lowbrowed language....Be happy to bring you up to speed on some of the more difficult and complex aspects of maintenance & ownership ...

"Lowbrow" is not a verb. And this from the guy who titled a thread "Ass"...

Tell us all about you're maintenance and ownership "aspects." We're all waiting with bated breath.
 
I've had a couple bad experiences out and about but I've also lost count of the thumbs up I've got and the little kids I've had sitting behind the wheel at the gas station and around. Driving a car like this one should impart respect for others and an appreciation with being blessed to even have one of the fantastic cars in our possession.

In my opinion a great missive, and as you say we are very lucky to be custodians of these cars. :thumbsup:
 
Last edited:

Mike

Lifetime Supporter
"Lowbrow" is not a verb. And this from the guy who titled a thread "Ass"...

Tell us all about you're maintenance and ownership "aspects." We're all waiting with bated breath.

Is everything ok Al? You seem upset? Rather than fouling this gentleman's thread why don't you shoot me a PM and lets talk it out. I know having a non running GT40 in the garage for a long period of time can make one crotchety. Mine was put up for winter last week and even though its up on the lift and progress is being made, I feel a little off too not being able to take it out for an early morning sprint.

You ask about maintenance. Generally, during summer months I will drive it from say 6am to 8am on a Sat or Sun morning. This might include a trip to Cars & Coffee or meeting up with a friend or two and drive up one of the many canyons we have to choose from in Colorado and then breakfast. It usually results in 50 to 100 miles. Upon return the first thing I do after popping the bonnet to cool things down is a wipe the car down. This would include the body, wheels and tires. Once the engine bay has cooled I will wipe it down as well. This exercise gives me a chance to visually inspect things. I like to put a wrench on the knocks offs and make sure they are tight. I also inspect each tire for any damage or nail that might have been picked up. In the engine bay I like to put a wrench on several things just to make sure. Every other weekend or three I slide the jack under the car and take it off the ground so I can check wheel bearings and crawl around underneath. I like to get on things early on if I detect any drips coming from engine or t-axle oil, or coolant. You do occasionally have to snug a fitting or a coolant line clamp. As you can see it all adds up. I was probably low on my initial estimate and would imagine I probably spend closer to an hour for every 2 or 3 I am out in the car. The car with now maybe 3500-4000 miles on it over the last 2 years still drives and looks showroom clean inside and out, top to bottom. I just like it that way.

I put the car up in the fall before the first snow and over the winter perform the more in-depth enhancements & maintenance tasks. The list this year is hopefully not as long as the last couple of years but I will be re-packing wheel bearings and addressing a couple oil drips with the remote cooler setup. I like to flush the brake and clutch fluid each year. The clutch in particular becomes pretty nasty pretty quick. I also change engine oil and coolant as well. I'm going to do something different this winter with the rear bonnet striker assembly. Not a well thought out design by SPF. I'll also get into the pedal box to check everything out and make sure no leaks or loose components exist. Rear e-brake setup leaves a lot to be desired so I'll be addressing that this winter as well. The car is extensively protected with Clear Bra but I did manage to pick up one small rock chip on the single nostril hood that I will have my paint guy address. I may do something different with the wheel and knock off colors as well since it's an easy way to change up the appearance characteristics. When it's all said and done I would guess I'll spend 100 maybe 200 hours in the garage over the winter. If you consider that then I may actually spend more time in total working on the car than I do driving it.

Hope this lengthy explanation helps. Give me a call anytime Al. Whatever has been holding you up getting your car on the road over the years, I've probably already encountered and resolved. I will say having someone like Dennis or Paul to reach out to has been extremely helpful when encountering something new. Those guys know these SPF cars inside and out.
 

Mike

Lifetime Supporter
I remembered as well I'm not a big fan of the street avenger carb that came on the Roush engine. It has a stumble coming on to the primaries that so far I have not got rid of. Will probably line up some dyno time to tune a different carb as well. It's hard to predict right now what all I might dive into over the winter. You think 2014 is the year you'll finally get 2160 on the road Al?
 

Michael Holmes

Lifetime Supporter
I wish I could +1 your eat off the chassis remark, I keep throwing off cv boots on the track and have an axel grease coated engine bay. Looking into more redesigned boots for 930 to eliminate this issue. Other than that reoccurring issue I drive the car regularly.
 

Howard Jones

Supporter
Maintance. I have about 20K on my car over 15 years. So lets say 1.4K a year. I did about 30 total days at the track over that time. Each day was about 130 miles of track time or about 600 miles a year on aveage but in the early years I didn't track it and so the later 10years resulted in more track days but lets just say it was about 750 a year over those later years.

So a more recent year would have about 750 track miles over 4 or 5 weekends and about the same amount of street miles more or less.

I spend about 6 to 8 leisurely hours (a couple of beers and lunch included) doing a track week end prep work up each time. I also have a good hour worth of look over about every 3 or 4 weekends of normal street driving just to see whats falling apart, off, or loosening up. Tire pressure, oil level, gearbox oil check etc. Then in January each year it gets a complete fluid change, reset rockers preload, check timing, re tighten everything, brake rotor (cracks) pad (overheat cracks) check, general cleanup and go over. Call that a weekend or another 12 hours or so.

So lets call it 40 hours of track prep, winter 12 hour, about 10 more of general poking around the car from time to time a year. 62 hours a year or a hour every 24 miles of run time.

I guess you can do less and see what falls off, then fix it. Seams to me that spending 70-80 grand on something and all that time and effort just to wait until it falls apart to fix it doesn't make much sence, but whatever, just don't take people you like for rides and keep off the track.

Cheers.
 
Last edited:

Mike

Lifetime Supporter
Howard, I maybe am misunderstanding. You say 50 hours per year of maintenance. Then you say 1 hour per every 30 of run time. That math yields a total run time per year of 1500 hours. If you average 50mph that would equal 75,000 miles per year.
 

Howard Jones

Supporter
You got me thats 24 miles and 1 hour. sorry.......... Oh and is that reasonable? Ya about the same as split crotch panties. Works great and is exciting..........once in a while. You wouldn't want to get bored with something that is so much fun now would you.
 
Back
Top