1966 Ford GT40 Continuation: Time For Coffee?
Non-original historics can be controversial, but one man's passion is surely impervious to objection...
Le Mans may be over for another year, but focus remains on La Sarthe as attention now turns to Le Mans Classic, which is just over two weeks away. A biennial celebration of some of the 24-hour race's greatest competitors, the Classic is in many ways even better than the original.
Of course, historic Le Mans cars can be hard to come by; scarcity, cost and practicality all being prohibitive to the reality of owning one. But what if you could build your own?
Continuation cars can be a contentious topic, especially among purist petrolheads, but for Ted Baird they provided the only opportunity to own his dream car. He turned to Superformance, one of the industry leaders in rolling chassis replicas and continuation racers, who provided him with a newly built platform on which to apply his personal touch.
Using original parts he had collected through the years - including items from the original Le Mans cars - and following a great deal of research, patience, and perseverance, Ted created "the most accurate Mk2 reproduction available" describing it as "not a replica... just not one of the original eleven."
Ted says that sharing the car with other people and driving it "how it's supposed to be driven, which is hard and fast" are the two most rewarding aspects of ownership. And at the end of the day, isn't that really what it's all about?
Enjoy the full video below!
Image: Petrolicious
The chassis is "simplified", they say that "over two thirds of the rolling chassis's parts are interchangeable with that of an original car" but that's not the same as identical. An example, I have an SPF pedal box, it looks like the originals but while the originals are cast magnesium the SPF is made from fabricated steel.
That's not to say they are bad, they're not at all but equally they're no toolroom copy.
So I doubt this one is anywhere near an "exact" replica as claimed, if you want that go to someone like Gelscoe who will build you (for a price!) an *exact* copy http://gelscoemotorsport.com/
New Mk2s are also available from Lee Holman including the roadster.
http://www.holmanmoody.com/services.html
I never understand why such people need to cling to some sort of link to an original, applaud it for what it is instead.
Only the original manufacturer can truly create continuation cars, such as Jaguar and Aston Martin have done.
This is coming from someone who is also building a homage car, but I will never portray it as anything but that.
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