hehe Yeah, So far, at least 6 people have shown that they have good taste.
The original cars had Halibrands in 15" with high profile tires. I've already ordered replicas of them, but they haven't come in from the England yet. What we were doing last night was to try to find a set of wheels that we could use for this show only. We actually had 5 choices and We narrowed it down to 3 choices and put them all on just to see if we could agree on one of them.
I agree that #1 has a Tuner look to them, Kris wanted to use them. #2 kinda has that retro look similar to what Ford is doing with the new GT except that they are doing them much bigger. #3 is what Rob & I could agree on, so that's what we used for this show.
The car is over at the WOW show right now, so I'm sure you'll see many pics of it tonite. I didn't take any because the NIFE members setting up the display weren't done yet. BTW, the NIFE display this year is VERY COOL wait 'til you see pictures of it. Better yet, come see it yourself.
Lowering the car....... This car is about as low as we can go. The Coil-Overs are adjusted as far down as they go. I'l take more pictures later but rest assured that the engine cradle is less than 4" from the ground right now. It may look a little lower once we get the alignment done. Right now the car is 40-1/2" tall. The original GT40's were 40-3/4" tall, so we're down there. The reason the original GT40's looked so low is because they used very high profile tires back in the 60's & they had big wheel openings to accomidate them. Back then a 70 series tire was low profile.
Here is the style for the wheels we ordered & yes they are available in a Fiero bolt pattern.....
Edited because I own page 7.
Also thanks for all the compliments. I'm sure that this is the best looking car I've had the pleasure in helping to build.
The guys that built this car Rob, Kris & the paint by Mark are the guys that really made this the beauty it is.
Archie
[This message has been edited by Archie (edited 01-29-2004).]
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05:02 PM
84se-Stock Member
Posts: 430 From: Bridgewater, Nova Scotia Registered: May 2003
i like the third set, but i wanna see some more pics, darnit!! Did you guys get the glass in too??
I'm sure there will be many pics later tonight when the guys working on the display get back home to their pc's.
All the glass & windows are installed except the side windows. The side windows arrived too late to arrange proper installation.
when we drove it outside this morning to load it up, that was the 1st time I saw it outside in finished condition & I loved it. Turned out better than I had imagined.
Mark, Call me tomorrow, I have a pass for u
Archie
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08:02 PM
perkidelic Member
Posts: 772 From: Masury Ohio USA Registered: Aug 2002
I think you made an EXCELLENT choice with the Halibrand replicas, Archie. I like the third set of wheels, but looking at the pic, the front wheel and tire combination looks too big, and the rear one looks too small...I'd think you'd want to go with an 17"/18" combo at least, if you were going for a new style wheel. I can't wait to see a picture of it with the Halibrands on it...as faithful a reproduction as it appears to be, it would almost be sacriligious to see it with anything else on it....
So is the body complete in those pics? The whole car looks great except for the nose cone. I still say its going to cause problems at high speed. It looks out of proportion to the rest of the car. Just my opinion for what it matters. Is there a reason you werent able to replicate the low sleek look of the original nose cone? I mean the nose stops so high up. Almost looks like it stops sloaping above the centerline of the front tires. I would have extended the nose a few more inches to let it drop a few more inches before changing angles. And have that wide grill and signal pannel the originals have.
[This message has been edited by red85gt (edited 01-30-2004).]
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02:00 AM
AusFiero Member
Posts: 11513 From: Dapto NSW Australia Registered: Feb 2001
I said thie much earlier in this thread but maybe I didn't explain it clearly.
I'm not a GT40 expert but this is what I know so far. This car is an exact replicae of a MARK I because the molds were splashed directly off of a real MARK I. They only built a handfull of the MARK I cars. The Nose you are talking about was called the "LeMans" nose and it was on the MARK II & later models.
Most of the teams that raced these cars, further modified the noses for their own racing aero needs. If you do a google search for GT40, you'll find a lot of pictures of the cars. Look at the pictures closely & you'll notice that there are very few GT40's that have exactly the same nose treatment on them.
I hope I explained that correctly.
We don't have the "LeMans" nose YET. But when we get one, it will be a direct replacement & use the same hinges etc. as the Mark I nose.
Archie
quote
Originally posted by red85gt:
So is the body complete in those pics? The whole car looks great except for the nose cone. I still say its going to cause problems at high speed. It looks out of proportion to the rest of the car. Just my opinion for what it matters. Is there a reason you werent able to replicate the low sleek look of the original nose cone? I mean the nose stops so high up. Almost looks like it stops sloaping above the centerline of the front tires. I would have extended the nose a few more inches to let it drop a few more inches before changing angles. And have that wide grill and signal pannel the originals have.
[This message has been edited by Archie (edited 01-30-2004).]
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07:41 AM
ltlfrari Member
Posts: 5356 From: Wake Forest,NC,USA Registered: Jan 2002
That is one hot little car! BTW is the car in front of your car, a dl10? And te one behind you reminds me of that Fiero kit car, the concepts 2000 or somthing like that.
Thanks for the pic's Arch. The one in front is the DL10, the white one behing almost looks like an Aldino, although the wing doesn't look right, and the red one across looks like a Lotus.
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02:40 AM
PFF
System Bot
Archie Member
Posts: 9436 From: Las Vegas, NV Registered: Dec 1999
Nice pics. Our cars are a kit car makers dream. I still can't believe how easily bodies can be made to fit the fiero space frame. Pontiac did a great job when developing our cars and the kit car guys do great work too. Archie that GT40 is beatiful great work.
And some goof hopped into the car and closed the door before we had a chance to drag him away from the car. This guy says he had his checkbook with him and wanted to try out the car.....
And then this guy kept trying to keep the fingerprints and drool off of the car!
Car shows are hell.
Mark
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11:30 PM
Feb 3rd, 2004
PaulJK Member
Posts: 6638 From: Los Angeles Registered: Oct 2001
Lotsa nice cars, but that car of yours is a real Show Stopper Archie. WOW !
B4 Christmas I was with Dean Jeffries, who was showing me a car he was re-storing that you would have enjoyed. One of 4 original open top GT40's; this one had actually run at LeMans. White with Blue stripes. Ford had just brought it back from some promo work with their new Ford GT. Another amazing man and car.
[This message has been edited by PaulJK (edited 02-03-2004).]
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04:17 AM
PFF
System Bot
Uaana Member
Posts: 6570 From: Robbinsdale MN US Registered: Dec 1999
Archie, that car is one exceptional piece of work. Hats off to you and your crew.
Those Halibrand rims will be the icing on the cake.
That said, have you ever thought of doing the GT40 replica with a longitudinal engine? After all, you had to cut out alot of the frame anyway. It might take less work to drop in a longitudinal tubeframe... as long as you wouldn't have to mod it (too much) to fit the GT40 body... probably save you some exhaust pipe work too, among other things. And IMHO, the longitudinal engine would make the replica look even more like the original. Just a thought.
[This message has been edited by Blacktree (edited 02-03-2004).]
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10:03 AM
madcurl Member
Posts: 21401 From: In a Van down by the Kern River Registered: Jul 2003
Shouldn't it be a white design along the side of the car with the words GT?
CORRECTION: Shouldn't be a wide solid line with (1) small one for each side? I was looking at the one of the previous pics of a original GT40 or did the original have (2) types?. You're not going to add the Ford label are you? What every happened to that Corvette 32 valve motor? Why couldn't you have placed that one in instead? Anyway, the car looks really good....you better get a good alarm for it. Stupid people might think its the real thing worth $140,000G's
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12:10 PM
KEV Member
Posts: 2590 From: Green Isle, MN Registered: Dec 2000
