New Zealand GT40, your thoughts.

OK, I'm doing my homework.

I got my first ride in John Woerheide's GT-40 Spyder last weekend and haven't been able to stop thinking about it since.

I have been losing sleep the past few months thinking about how I can manage the build a GT40 without selling my Cobra.
Well, our house went on the market 3 weeks ago (yep, seriously) but not for the reason of purchasing a GT40

Got to move closer to work.
Although we may have some extra $$ after we buy the new house

Anyway, I've been searching the internet for any and all info I can find.
Came across the New Zealand GT40 and thought I'd check with you guys and get your thoughts on them.
Price is considerably lower than anyone else.
What are the hangups with this particular manufacturer?

I had the same feelings toward Factory Five. They have a great replica at a blue-collar budget. But what about quality???
FFR turned out to be one hell of a replica.

Can the same be true about this maunfacturer?

Please advise.

I just recently talked to Gordon Levy and he is sending me an RF GT40 info pack.

Soon....
Ed
FFR1997K

 

[Guest]

Ed

Several guys in the US have asked the same
question. The answer is we don't know because
there are no NZ GT40's in the US yet.

But that's about to change, since one of the
Forum members (Neal) is about to take delivery of one of these kits.

We'll all be interested in his experience.

MikeD

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Actually, there is one of Phil Ware's cars in the USA; it is in northern California, and I saw photos of it several months ago. The fellow who ordered it seemed pleased with it, said the fit and finish was quite good and that all of the extras he's asked for were well in there. This was in November, so he must have made some progress by now.
Phil does not (or did not at that time)include an instruction manual, which has put some folks off. Most people would like directions for a project this big. The strength of the RF car, besides the fact that from all I hear it is very well put together and well designed, is that the manual is reported to be very good, and their customer backup is evidently very strong as well.

 

the lack of a manual is a major issue. right now the popular kits are the rf, and cav kits. the downside to era is the 2 year wait. i dont think gtd and tornado kits have a lrge grouping here in the states much anymore.

 

[Guest]

You could also look at GT40 Australia who are based in Brisbane in Australia and who are the largest manufacturer of Cobras/ GT40's in Australia. They have just built Bill Bayards GT40 and shipped it to him in Dallas minus motor and gearbox. They have built over 250 cars. They have a construction manual and use Corvette suspension very similar to the ERA GT40 cars. They have parts as well. I suggest that you contact Bill who is a contributor to this forum and get his opinion.
I have driven both the Roaring Forties car and the GT40 Australia car and chose to build the later. Check out their web site at gt40australia.com

 

[Robert Logan]

Stephen,

I am interested in two things,

1. How many GT40's have DRB / gt40 Australia actually built and

2. Why did you choose to build the later rather than one of my cars.

Yours with interest,

Robert Logan

 

[Guest]

Ed.

I tried emailing you a copy of an article on Phil Ware's car but it bounced back. Email me if you are interested in getting a copy.

Cheers, Brian.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Actually, regarding ERA, there was a posting, I think on this forum, of someone who had a pair of build dates with ERA that he wanted to sell, or sell one of them, so if you can find the posting and you want an ERA, you can jump the queue.

 

Hey Brian,

Is it possible for you to send me a copy of that article? I'd very much like to see it.

Jim,

Have you been able to find out anything else about the NZR in Nocal? How it's coming along? How it looks in the crate when it arrives?

Thanks,

Doug

 

[Robert Logan]

I noted with interest in a recent publication here in Australia that one of the contributors above , Stephen Shedden, is now an AGENT for GT40 Australia.

I would like to see this acknowledged in all entrys by him, as I have, using my "Roaring Forties" name.

Again lets all be transparent in all of our of our dealings.

Again I ask, how many GT40's have been sold through GT40 Australia (not combined Cobra and GT40 sales, not Saber sales but JUST GT40 sales ).

Best wishes to all,

Robert Logan
President,
Roaring Forties.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

I did email the fellow in NCal who has a Ware kit; he is occupied with a house renovation and hasn't been able to do much. I will see if he has photos he can post.

 

[Neal]

Jim,

Would you mind forwarding his email to me. I'd like to discuss shipping with him. Check my profile for my address. I tried emailing you but it bounced back. Check your profile.

Thanks,
Neal

 

[Wayne]

I have been waiting for an answer to the question of the number of GT40 cars been built by DRB (AUST)
250 GT40s & Cobra's seem a lot of cars for the population here. A couple of years ago I approached DRB to purchase a kit (prior to the current owner) and I am sure he said that 27 GT40 Kits had been sold with one kit in USA.

Enjoy your motoring
Glayne

 

[Bill Bayard]

Glayne,

My car was chassis #35, and was begun in
June of 2001, so I would assume GT40 Australia has about 40 some 40s sold.
They build Ultimas as well as Cobras and GT40s. Now that is one cool little car!
Their total of cars/kits, is way over 250.

Bill

 

[Guest]

Robert sorry for the delay in responding but its been school holidays in NSW for the past two weeks and we have been away. I assume that the reason you posted your questions on the forum was for me to answer them on the forum so here are my answers.
1. I believe that GT40 Australia have sold 40 GT40s and over 300 Cobras ( not the 250 I previously posted ).
2. I choose to have a GT40 Australia car instead of yours for the following reasons,
When I visited your factory in October 1999 and saw your first car I was not happy with the driving position in particular the fact that the steering wheel was offset and down to the left.
I also did not like the interior finish.
I was not comfortable with using the Audi gearbox as I was concerned about its ability to handle large amounts of torque above 500hp
I did not go ahead with a purchase due to the above.
I looked at the white turnkey ( rego. Boss 40 ) when it was up for sale in March 2001 and discussed with you the things that needed to be changed.At that time with the purchase price of the car plus the changes the cost was close to a new car.
On 21st March 2001 you emailed me a quote for a new car which had a delivery time of 15 months which I considered too long ( ETA June 2002 )
In parallel I visited Peter Ransom at GT40 Australia and discovered that he was building very good cars. He was very knowledgable and listened to what I wanted. I choose one of his designs over yours for the following reasons.
The body/chassis units were finished with the cabin section bonded to the chassis. The front and rear clips and doors were hinged and aligned with anti intrusion beams built into the doors. All the panel fitting and alignment was done in the factory. This was very important to me.
Your price was $19,500 for the base option but all I got was a lot of body parts whereas the GT40 Australia car had for $16,000 all the bodywork fitted at the factory and a chassis that was finished.Whereas with yours I still had the consuming task of installing all the aluminium sheeting throughout the entire car.
Having worked in the aircraft industry manufacturing airframe sections for Boeing, Airbus, McDonnell Douglas and Bombardier plus defence aircraft such as F111, F14, F16, Hawks etc I have seen enough aluminium rivets to last me a lifetime. Their chassis had zinc anneal panels welded into the spaceframe to replicate the monocoque chassis and the aluminium sill panels were bonded and rivetted on at the factory.
Only Porsche gearboxes were used.
There was a 100 page build manual with instructions, drawings, sketches and photos.
They used 5/8" and 3/4" race quality rose joints whereas from memory you were using only 1/2" rose joints.
Delivery time was only 5 months for a turnkey.
When I was working in America I had a first hand look at an ERA and thought they were fantastic. I liked the fact that they were using parts from a Corvette, which meant that their car was very strong due to the GT40 being half the weight of the Corvette. When I saw the GT40 Australia car and realised that they were using Corvette donor brakes and suspension parts it made sense to me.This gave their car fantastic brakes and a very strong suspension. Plus I could buy brake pads, piston cups, seals etc from my local Holden dealer.
Their cars were being used in competition ( hillclimbs, circuit racing, sprints, etc ) almost every weekend and their owners thought very highly of the cars and had no problems. In fact one of their cars has now won the Marque Sports Car class 2 years in a row.Their very first car is over 5 years old and has travelled 55,000 klm. I have been in this car and its still very tight. Another owner has had his car just under 2 years and has done 30,000 klm already. As a lot of these owners are pushing out over 500hp without any problems I thought that they had a better package as far as cars that were actually being used on a regular basis on both everyday roads and racing circuits.
In addition the owners get together at the factory once every month with their cars and share their knowledge and experiences. I felt that this was a great forum for me to tap into re any questions I had.

Robert we all buy our cars for very different reasons and I bought mine to drive. On certain days I drive my car to work plus on weekends it gets a workout. It has over 7000 trouble free kilometres on it already whereas I would still have 2 more months to wait to get my car had I ordered it from you.

I am not sure why you wanted me to justify my decision to buy a GT40 Australia car instead of one of yours and I hope the above explanations answer your questions
........Stephen

 

[Guest]

Robert you raised an issue of seeing my name listed as an agent in an advetisement Peter Ransom of GT40 Australia placed in a magazine. As you know that magazine was doing an article on the new GT40 just released by Ford and Peter asked me if I was prepared to show people my car. I agreed as I am keen to get as many people in Sydney interested in GT40s as I can. Eventually I would like to think that there were enough of us to form a GT40 club. I do not care who manufactures the cars as long as we all enjoy our own cars. You also placed an advertisement in that same magazine and if I had one of your cars and you had asked me to show it to people I would have done exactly the same for you.
There are no commercial arrangements involved between Peter and I and I have never received any payments or special deals from Peter, do not carry any spare parts etc etc.
So I do not understand what is different in my case to any owner who is proud of their car and willing to share that pride with other prospective owners. In my registration I made it very clear that I owned a GT40 Australia car and have never hidden that fact.
I have only recently joined this forum but from your questions of me already it comes across that you want to dominate this forum and noone else is entitled to their own opinion.

.........Stephen

 

[Bill Bayard]

Stephen,

Thank you for stating the obvious! This

matter should have been addressed long ago!

Perhaps now the Forum will be a more

equitable and enjoyable source of accurate

information!


Bill

 

Hi all, I am sure the designers of GT40 replicas have a lot pride in their work, and are passionate about the decisions and design of their cars.
Many of the owners, too are very proud of what they have purchased, and defend ther decisions with vigour.
These are healthy things, showing a passion of things allied to the GT40.
I hope people can honestly express differing views here without resorting to nastiness, after all- the GT40 and its relations is to be enjoyed

And it is impossible to get more than three people to agree on anything, as demonstrated by the phone booth test!!

 

[Robert Logan]

Stephen,

Thank you for your answers. The reasons were to get feed back from people who have seen both, nothing more. We have changed many things on our GT40 replicas since the first car, Boss 40, was built. I welcome your visit to our factory at any time and as regards the article , your explaination is very acceptable , but I am sure that you could see how I THOUGHT that you were an agent. You have my appologies.

At Roaring Forties , we produced and delivered our first body chassis in February of 1997 and are currently in the '60's. There have been a few not completed or delivered such as #1 is MINE, #12 is a race car / development car still at Dromana, and #13 was never built in the finest tradition of race car's.

Geting back, I have seen at least two of the Tritan cars (owner of company - Frank Wigg )from NZ and they are well built. There is another person who builds GT40 cars in NZ whom is called David Brown. His work is very good and I have fitted Air Conditioning to the ONLY GT40 he has produced and the car is VERY close to the original. His only car was built for a person who lives here in Melbourne and was a remake of a car he had which was an early KVA. The chassis was ditched and David started again and built a monocoque. The chassis was aquired by GT40NZ and coppied with little or no change (I have not yet seen a chassis up close). This is the basis of the car under consideration with this thread.

Robert

 

[Gary Gibbs]

I seem to remember a couple of names posted for NZ manufactured cars. How many and who are the NZ manufacturers?

Thanks
Gary