GT40 My Story
My first exposure to the GT40 was in 1967 in the form of a scaleletrix slot car set with a GT40 body on a custom built chassis.
Years later I saw some English magazines with classic car advertisements with real GT40's for sale in the twenty to thirty thousand pound range
Still more time passed and the prices went out of my reach but another English magazine had an unfinished replica for sale. I had some family in England look at it and did a deal sent the money but the day before the money was handed over I got a call from the USA with a job offer so I called off the deal packed my stuff and left New Zealand for 10 months work in San Francisco.
When I got back to New Zealand I started looking at the replicas available in NZ the first a nice red GTD40 on consignment at an Auckland dealer. I looked the car over and the dealer was keen for us to take it out for a ride. Unfortunately as soon as I took over the wheel and headed off down the road the back opened up on me.
Other options at the time were a full monoquoc replica by Frank Wigg, the English GTD40 being imported by a gentleman in Albany ( I forget his name) and a kit being developed by Phill Weir.
An ex girl friend of mine acquired a Phill Weir body and chassis but the project was not far along with its development so that was eventually passed on to a new owner.
I then relocated again to the USA, Los Angeles this time.
Over the next few years I looked at several unfinished replicas and one completed car, a home built replica done in the 70's with the body mould taken off a real car while the owner was out of the country.
During 1999 I started to seriously research the various replicas available and the prices of finished cars on the market leading to the purchase of my GTD40.
It had been built in England and then sold to New Zealand. I had a friend look at it and after several months of research on how to import it into the USA finally purchased the car.
During 2001 a couple of new players have entered the GT40 replica market on the west coast, CAV in San Diego and Roaring 40's in Arizona. Both providing excellent quality cars substantially built off shore, 1 in South Africa the other in Australia. If I were to sell my car I would have a hard time deciding which of these to buy as a replacement.
But with the recent sale off several real GT40's below $500,000 even into the low $300,000's maybe I will be able to afford a real one soon.
I drive my car often and take it to Willow Spring and run with the Cobra club whenever I can, I drive it the 100 miles to and from the track. |
