Superformance Builders

Anyone know who is building SPF cars these days? I am not buying soon, just interested in how builds are getting done.
- I believe V's who is afiliated with Hillbanks out west
- I assume Olthoff is still building
- I saw Ron used one of Oltoff's old crew members, Paul

Anyone else who is building these?
 

Rick Muck- Mark IV

GT40s Sponsor
Supporter
We use and highly recommend Olthoff. No one, and I mean no one has more experience with a Superformance chassis. And Dennis' extensive vintage racing experience as both a driver and "arrive and drive" support provider for numerous SPF GT40s makes him the "go-to" guy for this. Yes, we do send a lot of cars and customers to Olthoff; no we do not get a kickback, it's just our experience and results that make us recommend Olthoff as "first choice" in an SPF build out. Paul did the work on Ron's MK I "street coupe" we sold him (his second SPF purchase from us BTW) and he has been pleased as well. And we would be happy to talk to you about a chassis for whomever you want to use.
 

Ron Scarboro

GT40s Supporter
Supporter
I’ll say this. Buy from Rick. Long time supporter of the forum and has gone above and beyond for me repeatedly.
 

Steve

Supporter
Agree with the above. I bought from Rick and top to bottom, great experience and support. Wouldn't look anywhere else. I live in MN, so Rick isn't exactly in my back yard but it doesn't matter. I also had Dennis do the custom part of my build. Had I had the wisdom to have him do the entire build it would have been on the road last summer. But noooooooo, I had to have the experience for myself... Seriously, I'm glad I'm doing much of it myself. Life is a journey, not always an end game. Having said that, if you want it done right, Dennis is the man. He's more experienced than anyone and can tell you what works as well as (and more importantly) what doesn't work.
 

Dave Hood

Lifetime Supporter
Kevin:

Dennis Olthoff is very good, and he's probably prepared more Superformance GT40s than anyone else in the U.S. A former employee of his, Paul Whitlock ([email protected]), is also someone I'd highly recommend. Like Dennis, Paul is located in the Charlotte area. I've had both Dennis and Paul work on my car and you can't go wrong with either person.
 
In terms of product knowledge, assembly, and a place to source parts, I agree that Olthoff is the best choice. Unfortunately, I ended up using Bill Andrews at HRE Motorcars in New York. Bill does have good contacts to source parts. However, he does not have the ability to assemble these cars. I ended up having to redo the entire car at my expense because of his poor workmanship.
 

Rick Muck- Mark IV

GT40s Sponsor
Supporter
In terms of product knowledge, assembly, and a place to source parts, I agree that Olthoff is the best choice. Unfortunately, I ended up using Bill Andrews at HRE Motorcars in New York. Bill does have good contacts to source parts. However, he does not have the ability to assemble these cars. I ended up having to redo the entire car at my expense because of his poor workmanship.

Not a comment on Billy/HRE, but we had an SPF GT40 that had been done by a "one-off" shop (NOT HRE) that required a lot of correction work. The customer did not drive the car much because it did not work well. Poor wiring with 3M blue wire connectors that are not sealed, fuel lines held on at the carp with wire spring clamps, no fuel filter in the system and a list of items. One of the most serious was they had apparently moved the pedal assembly and failed to install all of the retaining bolts as well as leaving them loose. Best of all was they had substituted a bolt in the throttle bellcrank that was too long and caused a "catch" when pushing the pedal down. This required a strong push to overcome and resulted in getting more throttle than intended when the resistance was finally overcome. Plus they used the cheapest parts store engine mounts possible so the engine would move a lot when you gave it the poke; the motor would move enough to allow the alternator pulley to contact the bulkhead despite them bumping out a clearance in the bulkhead.

These cars are not really complicated but require proper workmanship/materials to do so that they are reliable and safe. We have one car that was done by the purchaser himself and has since been sold on by the owner, it has now been through Olthoff for some upgrades and Dennis was impressed with the work the owner did.
 

Dave Hood

Lifetime Supporter
Rick makes a good point. These cars are not complicated, but having someone prepare (and maintain if you don't have the tools and experience yourself) your car who has extensive knowledge of the Superformance product is strongly recommended. Over the seven years or so I've worked with Dennis and Paul here in Charlotte, I've saved lots of time and money by simply having access to their experience with these cars. If you work with someone who is new to these cars, you'll pay for their experience and mistakes along the way.
 
All I can say is that if a builder is not willing to check his ego when he is over his head in terms of abilities, he should not be untruthful and do terrible work at a customer’s expense and then take no responsibility. Pure and simple, it is wrong. I was fortunate in that I was able to absorb the costs and assemble a team of craftsmen to build it properly and create a safe car
 

Ron Scarboro

GT40s Supporter
Supporter
Paul built my car. I had him come up on 3 day stints to a local car club where I have a dedicated bay in Raleigh. I got the opportunity to watch him work, and got the amount of input to the finished product I wanted. I'd highly recommend Paul to anyone. I think he has about 150 hours to date and there are a number of things we're still going to do on the car.

I'll echo Dave. The build isn't complicated, but there is NO MANUAL, NO WIRING HARNESS DIAGRAM, etc. and I saw him do things I would never have contemplated because he build a bunch for Olthoff and mechanically supported the race efforts. I could have done or sub-contracted everything he did, but it would have taken me 5X the time, I'd still not be done and a I'd have spent a whole lot more money.

I have a story about Paul (many actually, but here is one that sums him up). He was cursing while welding a bracket for the aluminum overflow tank. I asked him if it was hard. He said no, but the weld was "too clean" and he wanted it to be more representative of what the factory or a race team would have done. We went to lunch, then worked together the rest of the day before breaking for dinner around 6pm. I went on home and assumed he had gone to the hotel. Next morning, when I got there he was happy as a clam. I looked at the overflow tank and said "that looks pretty good actually" to which he replied, "yeah I came over around 10pm last night and redid it. Was bothering me".

You can't go wrong with Paul.
 
Ron,

You are very lucky to have found someone that is passionate about their work when it comes to these cars.
 
Thanks, I had experience with my first SPF being done by a builder that was new to the car (I purchased it used after it was built) so I understand wanting to have someone that knows what they are doing. Oltoff and his team saved me on that car as they rebuilt the car to a much higher standard.

I am a long way off from contemplating if I can even move forward with another GT40. If I were to move ahead I would have it done as a focused replica of 1061. I believe that owning one already has put me in a much better position on knowledge and I would do a variety of things differently. Rick has been a wonderful sponsor of this site and helped me during my first ownership so I would absolutly order from him. The question was about the builder, seems like folks still think Oltoff is a great option as is Paul.

Thank you
Kevin
 

john bach

GT40s Supporter
i am thinking, mind you, just thinking, of puttimg my genuine 1967 Ford 427 Side Oilier (0.10 over) in my SPF P2116, replacing the Roush 427.talked to Lee Holman who did that once. told me they had to replace rear uprights (did not tell me why) had to modidfy dfirewall dfor FE waterpump, and the. headers alone cost 2K. also talked with guy that had patterns for headers. not thinking of selling he car with Gennie 427 but thinking. how much more the car. would be worth. any thoughts or comments.
 

Larry L.

Lifetime Supporter
i am thinking, mind you, just thinking, of puttimg my genuine 1967 Ford 427 Side Oilier (0.10 over) in my SPF P2116, replacing the Roush 427.talked to Lee Holman who did that once. told me they had to replace rear uprights (did not tell me why) had to modidfy dfirewall dfor FE waterpump, and the. headers alone cost 2K. also talked with guy that had patterns for headers. not thinking of selling he car with Gennie 427 but thinking. how much more the car. would be worth. any thoughts or comments.

Evidentially your car is a MK I (I have no clue what #P2116 indicates in that regard). I wouldn't bother going to all the trouble and expense of installing the F.E. in it.

First and foremost you'd likely never recoup the $$$$$s if/when you sell it...and secondly, since you say you wouldn't be selling the car with the F.E. in it anyway...what would be the point in making the swap? You'd be GUARANTEEING you'd lose the additional dollars spent by swapping the SBF back into the car and selling it that way. (Many buyers would probably 'balk' at the mods made to a Mk I to accommodate an F.E.)

'Seems to me you'd be way better off all the way around by selling your present car "as is"...buying a MK II (new or used...with or w/o an engine)...and dropping your F.E. into THAT.

JMHO OOMV
 
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Rick Muck- Mark IV

GT40s Sponsor
Supporter
Rear uprights are no different. There are different mounts required and obviously other items needed. We may know of a set of SPF FE snakes that are available but if you need to order a set from SPF more in the 3K range.

The FE will only work in a MK II rear clip, the MK I is too low for it to clear.

See the red MK II to the left, you can buy that and install the FE!
 

Larry L.

Lifetime Supporter
The FE will only work in a MK II rear clip, the MK I is too low for it to clear.

I've seen photos of an F.E.-powered MK I...provided a link to it somewhere on this forum a while back.
It can be (and has been) done. ;-)
(I didn't believe it could be done either 'til I saw those photos.)

(Edit: Dry sump was needed to get it to "clear" as I recall.)
 
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