Snakeeyes and The Essex Wire GTD-40

[David Kee]

Matt,
I already volunteered myself for the #1 slot to drive one of Snakeyes' cars to the Austin meet.

[BT SNAKE]

Bob,
absolutley beautiful !! I think you got one heck of a GT.

Cal, you might have screwed up on this deal.

Hey Bob, now go over on the GT40 forum and post these
photos there. I saw that you registered so I took the liberty of introducing you to the gang. Look for my post...
Cal I am in hopes that you will join us over there as well on occasion.

Hersh

[snakeeyes]

Thanks, Hersh. It's hard to put a price on quality.

Thanks also for the kind intro on the GT40 site. I just posted the pics--

Bob

[Cal Metal]

Hey Hersh.......It wouldn't be the first time. Anyway, I am now saving my money for the Flip Top. I figure if I work real hard I can buy it on my 146th. birthday.

Snakeeyes got a nice car. He got the 40 and I now have a garage space that needs to be filled with something. Hmm........

[BT SNAKE]

Cal, I shoulda known you had a motive for your madness.
Are we still allowed to have a license at 146 ? I luv the
flip top !

Thanks for posting over there Bob..

Hersh

[snakeeyes]

See, Hersh, Cal's a sly one...always a motive. Cal, when you buy the turd at 146 I'll be, uh, 130 or so. Hopefully our nurses will take us on a field trip in the nursing home van so we can visit it in the garage...

[Pete C]

Snakeeyes, What can I say other than ......BEAUTIFUL!!! And enjoy.

Cheers, Pete C

[Neal Jackson]

Yep, that's the 40 I have a video of. Looks right at home being watched over by Mr. Lister on his throne.

I do think I see room for a Cheetah in that garage - pretty sure.

[PDHse]

Thanks snake eyes for posting those fabulous pictures for us to see, you truly are a lucky man. Imagine parking your car up next to the Lang Cooper also done up in the Essex Wire colours.

[ToyCollector]

I have reported this post to the moderator. Your pictures/cars are too gorgeous and the drool is ruining my keyboard! I want one. If you need space, I have some room!!

[ToyCollector]

Do we dare ask what's parked behind it under cover? Looks like one of those red italian thingies--Pantera maybe?. Never mind all the other "undercover" cars.

TC, jr.

[snakeeyes]

TC, this shows how screwed up my priorities are--a couple of years ago when my wife and I bought the land we are now living on, the first thing I built was the garage. I made sure it would be big enough to house some toys and be able to work on them, too.

Of course, it backfired on me in the sense that, when we did get a house built last year, my building ended up as the storage facility for all of the junk we've accumulated in the last nine years. After a lot of wrestling around I now have it all confined to one corner and am slowly thinning it (mostly via covert trips to the county dump when my wife is out riding her horse ).

Anyhow, no, that's not a Pantera behind the '40. I wish it was (another car on the list). It is the 308 QV that is pictured in my gallery. The garage is also home to my Beck Lister, an '86 Mondial cabrio, my ERA, and a couple of cars from my distant past--a '70 Z/28 that I've had since high school (thanks, Dad) and a '90 Mustang 5.0 coupe (nitrous, Paxton blower, etc. etc.) that I put almost 90,000 miles on before retiring to the garage.

As I said elsewhere over on the GT40 forum, the picture doesn't show the really interesting stuff in the shop--my 1950 Ford 8N tractor, my Honda dirtbike, or the Ford dually that does all of the REAL driving work.

At any rate, that's the story. I'm afraid most of my cars are wannabes--replicas of the real thing. Still lots of fun, but not the same as going into, say, Cal Metal's basement sanctuary, where his Echidna and Cobra reside, where the history is so thick you can hear the ghosts clanking around if you're quiet...

[427Aggie]

So what manufacturer is the GT40?

Matt

[snakeeyes]

GTD, one of the early '40 replica manufacturers. At this point I believe they are in receivership--it's kind of hard to tell. Thankfully they have done a lot of kits over the years, and for a time also had an association, I think, with CAV, which should mean [relatively] interchangeable parts are available regardless of GTD's continued existence.

Hopefully I won't be needing any parts...

[ToyCollector]

snakeyes, thanks for the reply. Sounds like your priorities are in the right order though My wife has a new hobby--horses. I'm in trouble

[snakeeyes]

By the way, TC, just checking out your photo gallery...that's one heck of a collection you've got there yourself! I need to install a floor treatment and a whole lot more lights, much like you've got. I had the electrician put ten 72" fluorescent fixtures, plus a couple of 48 inchers over my workbenches, but it's still too dim in there. I think a white floor treatment would do a lot, as well. Anyhow, nice garage!

[ToyCollector]

But it's not TEXAS BIG yet!!

[snakeeyes]

TC, you ARE in trouble. My wife talked me into her first horse three years or so ago. It was cheap--about $1500--and I thought, no big deal, right?

Then came the barn I had to build. With stalls. And a tack room. Then we needed a trailer to haul it in. And a bigger truck, with a turbodiesel, to haul the trailer. And saddles. And pads. And dressage lessons. And all of the tack that goes along with several different riding styles. And memberships in four different organizations. And the costs of registering the horse. And hay. And feed. And vitamins. And minerals. And shoeing. And hot wire. And upgraded fencing.

Then she decided she and the horse needed some fine-tuning. Off to a trainer for two months, with all of the costs of storage, feed, and lessons for both horsie and her (well, the storage and feed were just for the horse. I allowed my wife to live and eat at home during that time).

That was just the beginning. Our neighbor has been riding for thirty years and is delighted to have someone to share all of her interests with. So suddenly we're traveling off to endurance riding events, which as best as I can tell are races that aren't really races but instead are excuses to trailer your horse several hundred miles in order to trot it for twenty-five miles or so, then load up and drive several hundred miles back home. Of course, endurance rides are invariably overnight, so suddenly we needed a bigger trailer--a gooseneck three-horse slant-load--to haul not just her horse but her friend's, as well, with of course not just a tack room but full-blown living quarters with a/c and heat and all the comforts of home. That, of course, necessitated the purchasing of a generator to power all of that stuff--not just ANY generator, mind you, but the latest, most expensive, ultra-quiet Honda generator, so the noise will not spoil the pristine pastoral quiet of the endurance ride camp in the evenings (even though, at endurance rides, generators are not allowed to be run under any circumstances after 9 o'clock...).

Then there are routine shots, check-ups, floating of teeth (don't ask), round pens, dressage arenas, lights for the round pens and dressage arenas, hauling the beast to the vet for maintenance, paying extra fees if you don't haul the beast but make the vet come to you, subscriptions to all the horsie magazines, and of course all of the horsie-style clothing, jewelry, artwork, and assorted hubris that your wife will suddenly become enamoured of.

I haven't even gotten to those emergency vet bills when horsie gets sick, mind you. And God help you if she decides she wants to breed the poor thing.

And then, of course, having one horse begats a desire for another. And another. We're currently at three and counting.

Keep in mind that, at some point, you will need more land for all of your newfound equine friends.

If it sounds a lot like the car illness, it's not. IT'S WORSE!!

We were driving somewhere one day and my wife was giving me grief about the money I spend annually on car insurance, gas, routine maintenance, etc. She was bragging about how much cheaper horses are. So I proceeded to start rattling off the costs associated with all of the stuff I've listed above. Suffice it to say the car got VERY quiet when I finished and she did not raise the issue again. Ever. She's a smart girl, in spite of having married me.

Have fun!

[ToyCollector]

I think...I'm gonna be...sick

Since no one replied yet, I will edit and add that snakeeye's post is a keeper. I have strong suspicion this one will be shown to her before long. Us boys gotta stick together.

[Cal Metal]

Bob:

That horse thing is outrageous. Tell your wife that you need another couple of cars just to even the score.