Not much happened for about a year or so after we pushed the chassis into the garage as the play money was gone and I need to save up to buy more parts. Of course I was not too sure where I was going to get them, so I joined both of the UK clubs and started scouring the adverts for used parts.
A little while after I joined the clubs, Malcolm and I struck up a friendship which continues to this day. Malcolm was kind enough to entertain my continous barrage of technical questions and suggestions for parts sources. Finally after conversing for the better part of a year, we hatch a plan for me to go over to the UK for a visit and I would attempt to pick up some parts while there.
I spent nearly three weeks in the UK and had a blast, I met a bunch of guys from the club, visited a variety of work shops, went to Ray Christopher's house and had dinner with him. Frank Catt took me in my first ever GT-40 Ride in Andrew's car at Goodwood, we went to Donnington for track time and on and on. I still can't say enough about the level of hospitality I experienced in the UK.It was the best.
While in the UK I think I scoured up every single GTD part that was not being utilized in the UK at that time. I came back to the states with what I think was around 500 pounds of parts as excess baggage in the aircraft hold. When I came through customs I had
- A rebuilt Transaxle
- Adapter plate set up
- Flywheel, clutch , clutch cover, throw-out bearing,
- Hydraulic cylinder for clutch
- Front and rear uprights
- Pin drive adapters
- A set of shocks and springs
- A pedal box mount
- Radiator
- Axles
- CV joints
- Ball joints and tie rod ends
- Master cylinders
- Plus boxes and boxes of stuff I can't even remember like a speedometer, parking brake cable, hubs, drive flanges, CV adapters, Transaxle mounts, bearing carriers, bearings, seals and some very unique fasteners required for the build.
Brian