Help me identify this GT40

[Great Asp]

Please look at this page on a thread on SVTPerformance and tell me who's GT40 this car is. (about halfway down the page)

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums...=492168&page=3

The poster said it was original, but it did not look like it to me.

For extra credit, who's the manufacturer of the Cobra?

Thanks!

Eric

[ENTDOC]

17 inch wheels, key lock on door, shiney 3 stage paint. I do not think so. but it is not a SPF

[Woodz428]

I looked at the page...I'd like to qoute Art Linkletter..." Kids say the darndest things"

[Great Asp]

It did not have the Gurney roof, so I guessed it was not an SPF.

CAV?

E

[dlampe]

Maybe the question should be" Why could'nt it be real?" I know it has different wheels and new paint. It really looks good either way.

[Great Asp]

Originally Posted by dlampe

Maybe the question should be" Why could'nt it be real?" I know it has different wheels and new paint. It really looks good either way.

no patina

I agree it looks good, but original?

That's why I am asking though..

[Great Asp]

The guy said:

"For all wondering, yes the GT40 is original it doesn't have the gurney bubble as stated from above, the history goes as this, it was on the track at Le Mans on a practice day and wrecked. They used the car as spare parts for the remaining season. It just sat in a guys yard forever until my dad saw it on a business trip. Nobody bought it because it didn't have the serial number plates. Well no one had asked for them they guy had them in his toolbox. My dad asked, the guy showed him the plates, my dad bought it, shipped it to the US. Sent it to Holmen and Moody they restored the car."

E

[ENTDOC]

the Gurney bubble is an option actually on the SPF. it is not a CAV, they do not have roof eyebrows

[computerworks]

Originally Posted by Great Asp

For extra credit, who's the manufacturer of the Cobra?

Repro windshield and a rather bad attempt at an S/C dash.
The whole center cluster is offset by at least an inch.

Probably followed one of those "Dash Layout" drawings that are online.

[Bill D]

Someone ask him the chassis number of the GT40. Then we can check it out in Ronnie Spain's book.

[Great Asp]

I will ask and see if I can get it.

[Bill D]

Great Asp
I see you asked and he is fumbling with an answer. When he stated the 17" wheels are original, I knew right away he is full of BS. And Wilwood brakes would not fit an original without significant mods.

From what I've read in Ronnie Spain's book, he accounted for all but one of the original GT40 cars.

Thanks for asking

[Historybuff]

Being a fan of the GT40 targa in particular I recall Ronnie Spain
saying the Whitmore/Bondurant GT40 targa in the '65 targa
was destroyed.
Now Spain has seen it found, restored and racing.
So his fomer accounting might have been "is thought to have been
destroyed."

Now I'm awaiting the discovery/disinterment of the Ferrari red 427FE-powered Shelby-entered targa GT40
that won Sebring in '66. I bet Spain lists that as "destroyed" too but
I'm not buying it. I've seen airplanes buried 50 ft. down dug up and flying again and maybe it's not buried that deep ...

So tho I like Ronnie, you have to be careful about words like "destroyed" or "cut up" in the car world. All you need is one piece of the Holy Grail to start your rebuild...

[Johnson]

If this were an original GT40, wouldn't it have stack injection? I see an air cleaner in one of those photos. But if you are going to put 17's on an original GT40, then why not take off the stack injection.

[Bill D]

Originals had Webers, not stack injection

[Great Asp]

He did say it was a car striped of it's parts. No telling what was left to start with.

Maybe it was just a chassis to start, no body?

I have to admit I am no expert on the GT40 history.

There wasn't many Mark 4's made, I thought maybe 5. Number 1 is in the Ford Museum in Detriot.

I think that's an ERA license plate mount in the rear. We have a guy in St. Louis with a brown ERA GT40 (nice car BTW) that has that same mount as I remember.

[Bill D]

Although the car was stripped of parts, he says he has the chassis plates. That is the key that will unlock the mystery. Ronnie Spain has mapped all the cars to their current owners, so whatever he gives you, we can check.

Many original cars were damaged or destroyed during their lifetimes, but new parts/chassis were available and used. Some cars changed serial numbers as they were rebuilt. Again, this is all documented in Ronnie's book.

Looking at the car, it appears to be a ERA. I know of no original GT40's that have door locks. I think a few had roof vents. Closer inspection of the chassis would be the clincher.

The brakes and wheels are another giveaway. You can't just change original Girling brakes to Wilwoods, or the 6 pin BRM's to 17"

[Jac Mac]

One Slim possibility is that it could be the original #1009 chassis that was supposed to have been destroyed but was rebuilt, so there are apparently two 1009 numbered cars on the planet- this is all detailed in Ronnie Spains book, that would be the only explanation for all the aftermarket stuff, as I stated--- a very very slim chance

[Bill D]

Jac Mac
I checked with the book and concur that two 1009 chassis exist. And I also agree that it is almost nil that he has one of the two cars.

The book makes reference to a wrecked chassis 1012 that was owned by Walter Cantrell in Napa, CA.

The car looks too perfect to be an original imo.

[trularin]

After looking at pictures of Hershal's car, it could be like his.

I think a roaring 40s?????