- Jul 13, 2006
- 4,782
The Oct issue of this UK Mag has a large review of the history of the GT40, FORD GTs, Replicas, etc.
http://www.classicandsportscar.com/
http://www.classicandsportscar.com/
Ford GT-40 Cover Story: Oct '06 Classic & Sportscar Magazine:
- Thread starter Kayvan
- Start date
Red Rocket
GT Owner
Hate to be negative but don't waste your cash on this magazine. As usual, they promise more than they deliver; the GT coverage is miniscule and superficial. The editor is obviously not man enough to appreciate the GT, he seems to prefer the kit cars; and one of his idiot minions, Mick Walsh called the GT "too American" and actually said he prefered a Lotus Europa!!! What an idiot. Whipping's too good for him.
ViperJoe
GT Owner
Red Rocket - I enjoy your posts (especially this one) but the yellow font is killing me and most others I would assume.Red Rocket said:
Spirit
Heritage GT Owner
cudacharlie
Well-known member
Grabbed a copy of that one as soon as it caught my eye, and I WAS surprised that they barely gave the GT the time of day, while waxing euphoric over a 300hp kit-car that was won by a lorry driver in a sweeps off a bag of crisps....
.... or the Tornado, whose owner has had it up to 150 (on the Mulsanne!), and reckons there's more but isn't sure if he wants to find out.
Looks to me like your average GT owner has more thrills on an average day than these guys get waiting all year for a shot to drive LeMans.
They should do a piece on Joe, the TT GT and those rednecks with Hayabusas....
.... or the Tornado, whose owner has had it up to 150 (on the Mulsanne!), and reckons there's more but isn't sure if he wants to find out.
Looks to me like your average GT owner has more thrills on an average day than these guys get waiting all year for a shot to drive LeMans.
They should do a piece on Joe, the TT GT and those rednecks with Hayabusas....
fjpikul
GT Owner
Spirit, you know all that Viagra causes you to see blue, thereby decreasing the amount of yellow you can see. Better lay off and buy Mrs. Spirit that RED GT. I'm not surprised that others on this Forum can't see see the yellow print.
Too American?? What kind of crap is that? Are Ferrari's too Italian? Is a beautiful woman's company too good?
It's an American sports car! It's supposed to be American!
I do understand (but dont agree), about the kit cars. A lot of those GT kit car guys would never trade their car for a real GT. I personally would not trade my GT for 2 of those kit cars.
It's an American sports car! It's supposed to be American!
I do understand (but dont agree), about the kit cars. A lot of those GT kit car guys would never trade their car for a real GT. I personally would not trade my GT for 2 of those kit cars.
Spirit
Heritage GT Owner
Advise
I know, as my doctor, you would only advise me to do those things that will help improve my health and well being.:biggrin
If I had a lawyer like you, I would be in REAL TROUBLE.:eek
"As your attorney, I advise you to leave this room at once.
As your ex-attorney, I advise you not to worry.":cool
Carl Lazlo, Esq.
:willy :cheers :willy
Dr. Frank,fjpikul said:
I know, as my doctor, you would only advise me to do those things that will help improve my health and well being.:biggrin
If I had a lawyer like you, I would be in REAL TROUBLE.:eek
"As your attorney, I advise you to leave this room at once.
As your ex-attorney, I advise you not to worry.":cool
Carl Lazlo, Esq.
:willy :cheers :willy
BigsGT
Tungsten GT Owner
I agree with the difficulty reading the yellow font. I've also noticed that Rocman's huge sig pic causes me to have to scroll laterally when reading any thread in which he posts.
Not trying to be confrontational, it's just if my posts were creating similar difficulties I would want to know.
Biggs
Not trying to be confrontational, it's just if my posts were creating similar difficulties I would want to know.
Biggs
Kingveloce
GT Owner
Red Rocket said:
Guess I'd better defend my old magazine: I was the editor back in the days when Ford used to make money! The GT only gets a walk-on part in this feature because it's a magazine devoted to old cars: only rarely does Classic & Sports Car touch moderns and when it does they have to be pretty special... hence the appearance of the GT in this issue.
It was for this reason that the majority of the piece was about the original and centred on real and reproduction road and race versions of the GT40. But to say the editor 'isn't man enough to appreciate the GT' is well wide of the mark. Let me give you a quote or two... "The magnificent GT delivers all those boyhood fantasies in a package you can enjoy every day without going deaf or pulverising your backbone."
And another: "The pace is searing, the mighty 13in and 14in brakes immense, the ride sublime and steering perfectly weighted. With 2.7 turns lock-to-lock, it is rapid and sharp and gets better the quicker you are going. Turn-in is precise, balance close to perfection. What's more the GT is amazingly quiet and refined considering there is a supercharger wailing away behind you ear atop 5.4-litres of power."
Trust me, he loved the car.
Mick Walsh, a man who knows more about cars than probably anyone on this forum, is entitled to his opinions of course. But he's fundamentally right that the GT is too damn wide for our tiny UK roads. He only mentioned the nimble Lotus Elise and Europa because they're bargains and he's not a millionaire!
And his comment about the GT being too American was, I suggest, an example of the British sense of humour. He was reminding everyone that the original GT40 was, of course, designed and built in Britain...
Buy the mag (October 2006 issue). By increasing its circulation you might help get the poor guys working on the magazine a well-deserved pay rise!
jasper
GT Owner
fjpikul said:
sorry frank have to agree with spirit, can't read the yellow :willy
try having your background blue, see what we mean.
:cheers
Red Rocket
GT Owner
To respond to Mr. "Kingveloce", it's too bad you're not still the editor! Maybe then they would have got the article right. While it is true Mr. Elliott does say some nice things, they appear right alongside many backhanded statements, which have the effect of neutering the compliments, as I suspect was his intent. Want an example? “On the road the GT is schizophrenic. At maneuvering speeds it is cumbersome – except for overlight power steering – and charmless thanks to the cheap-looking transmission tunnel and details.” Then he goes on to say, “It may be criticized for being many things – and for not being many more – but, ..”. Earlier in the article he says, without providing any evidence, “.. It’s no surprise the he <Mr. Carter, the owner> reckons the bad press for Ford’s modern interpretation of the GT40 is unfair…”.
How can he claim the car is schizophrenic? It is not, in any way. He says the interior is charmless – again , another distortion and one that is patently untrue. The interior is a beautiful bit of design, race-car like in its Spartan aspects, functional and yet it is also one of the features that drew many of us to “have to have’’ this car. So I dismiss his comments as cheap shots with no basis in reality. Want to see a cheap transmission tunnel? How about the new Jaguar?
One of the other things I object to is the use here of that old journalistic device of stating a lie as though it is fact and building on that lie. He claims “It may be criticized for being many things – and for not being many more,” - but what, pray tell, are they? There are no legitimate criticisms, so he does not enumerate them. He says the car has received bad press- in fact the press, at least those with proper credentials, have been universally lauding the car. EVO, a U.K. publication, even chose it as Car of the Year. In sum, the reader is left with the impression that the car has a lot of flaws and is just another muscle car, but that is plainly wrong.
By the same token, we have Mick Walsh chiming in with his worthless opinion. The best thing one can say is that he does compare it to a McLaren F1 – though they haven’t been made for years, it’s a $1 million car; so for obvious reasons the comparison is ludicrous. It costs as much to send an F1 back to the factory for a service call as it does for a new engine for the GT. Walsh thinks the GT is “too big” – well, the original GT40 was not made for the road and the ones that are driven are too small for most average height drivers to get their legs in (just ask Damon Hill, who owns a Mark III as well as a new GT). The McLaren is tiny but the comparison falls flat because to build a car that will fit 2 safely with current proper 4 corner impact safety requires a certain size; that is why all the supercars nowadays are about the same size AND weight. His description, while brief, indicates he has more approval of some sardine can Lotus with 140 HP – Lord help you if you are ever in an accident in one of those.
Furthermore, I utterly dismiss the weak explanations that English roads won’t accommodate the GT or that he can’t afford the car and that has colored his opinion. First of all, a proper automotive journalist should be unbiased shouldn’t they? The good ones are. Nonetheless, I’ll be willing to bet that every GT owner has had dozens of people who cannot afford such a car approach them, and they don’t sniff that “a F1 is better”. They all love the car. Walsh reveals himself to be a buffoon by his remarks, not an experienced automotive journalist. He surely deserves to catch hell for his remark the car is “too American” also. Personally, I will never buy another one of these magazines again. It’s bad enough that they always fail to deliver on their cover stories, but to have to read such moronic test drive opinions is too much!
How can he claim the car is schizophrenic? It is not, in any way. He says the interior is charmless – again , another distortion and one that is patently untrue. The interior is a beautiful bit of design, race-car like in its Spartan aspects, functional and yet it is also one of the features that drew many of us to “have to have’’ this car. So I dismiss his comments as cheap shots with no basis in reality. Want to see a cheap transmission tunnel? How about the new Jaguar?
One of the other things I object to is the use here of that old journalistic device of stating a lie as though it is fact and building on that lie. He claims “It may be criticized for being many things – and for not being many more,” - but what, pray tell, are they? There are no legitimate criticisms, so he does not enumerate them. He says the car has received bad press- in fact the press, at least those with proper credentials, have been universally lauding the car. EVO, a U.K. publication, even chose it as Car of the Year. In sum, the reader is left with the impression that the car has a lot of flaws and is just another muscle car, but that is plainly wrong.
By the same token, we have Mick Walsh chiming in with his worthless opinion. The best thing one can say is that he does compare it to a McLaren F1 – though they haven’t been made for years, it’s a $1 million car; so for obvious reasons the comparison is ludicrous. It costs as much to send an F1 back to the factory for a service call as it does for a new engine for the GT. Walsh thinks the GT is “too big” – well, the original GT40 was not made for the road and the ones that are driven are too small for most average height drivers to get their legs in (just ask Damon Hill, who owns a Mark III as well as a new GT). The McLaren is tiny but the comparison falls flat because to build a car that will fit 2 safely with current proper 4 corner impact safety requires a certain size; that is why all the supercars nowadays are about the same size AND weight. His description, while brief, indicates he has more approval of some sardine can Lotus with 140 HP – Lord help you if you are ever in an accident in one of those.
Furthermore, I utterly dismiss the weak explanations that English roads won’t accommodate the GT or that he can’t afford the car and that has colored his opinion. First of all, a proper automotive journalist should be unbiased shouldn’t they? The good ones are. Nonetheless, I’ll be willing to bet that every GT owner has had dozens of people who cannot afford such a car approach them, and they don’t sniff that “a F1 is better”. They all love the car. Walsh reveals himself to be a buffoon by his remarks, not an experienced automotive journalist. He surely deserves to catch hell for his remark the car is “too American” also. Personally, I will never buy another one of these magazines again. It’s bad enough that they always fail to deliver on their cover stories, but to have to read such moronic test drive opinions is too much!
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Kingveloce
GT Owner
Hi Red Rocket
Have you actually tried driving a GT on some of England's smaller roads? You'll only drive down a country lane, one only a little wider than the car, once... especially should you meet something coming the other way. Reversing a great distance is not really an option, so it's a case of squeezing past the other car hoping you don't drop a wheel in the ditch as you do it.
And London, where I live, is full of roads with width restrictions and speed humps.
It's for these reasons I do most of my serious driving in France, where the roads are wide, laregly traffic-free and the left-hand drive makes more sense. And they don't have so many speed cameras over there. Yet.
Thanks for the suggestion that I should be back in charge of the magazine, though they'll have to offer a much better salary than they did when I was was last there!
Have you actually tried driving a GT on some of England's smaller roads? You'll only drive down a country lane, one only a little wider than the car, once... especially should you meet something coming the other way. Reversing a great distance is not really an option, so it's a case of squeezing past the other car hoping you don't drop a wheel in the ditch as you do it.
And London, where I live, is full of roads with width restrictions and speed humps.
It's for these reasons I do most of my serious driving in France, where the roads are wide, laregly traffic-free and the left-hand drive makes more sense. And they don't have so many speed cameras over there. Yet.
Thanks for the suggestion that I should be back in charge of the magazine, though they'll have to offer a much better salary than they did when I was was last there!
AtomicGT
GT Owner
Someone send this thread to Neilda, an excellent authority on British and European motoring, and "to American" evaluations! :biggrin
Red Rocket
GT Owner
:bs
King, I fully understand that English roads can be narrow even for a donkey cart. My first car (when I was 14) was a Mini Cooper. I have had several English cars, including two Sunbeam Tigers when I was a teenager, and I've always admired the British cars for their designs. And they are easy to work on, which is nice because they usually need a lot of ongoing work. :wink
But I still think this question of roads is irrelevant to the purview of an automotive enthusiast magazine that strives to reach a global audience, unless they want to rename it "Classic and Sports Cars That We Can Only Drive on English Country Roads". And I stand by my observations that the negative remarks of the two gentlemen are petty, obnoxious and plain wrong - no matter how experienced they may be. They come off as snobs also.
Forthwith I will prove the 'size issue' Walsh brings up is bogus. Let's compare the size of the Jaguar to the Ford GT:
Jaguar XJ dimensions:
Exterior Dimensions XJ8 XJ8L Vanden Plas XJR Super V8
Length 200.4 in. 205.3 in. 205.3 in. 200.4 in. 205.3 in.
Height 57.0 in. 57.3 in. 57.3 in. 57.0 in. 57.3 in.
Width 83.0 in. 83.0 in. 83.0 in. 83.0 in. 83.0 in.
Wheelbase 119.4 in. 124.4 in. 124.4 in. 119.4 in. 124.4 in.
Curb weight 3,726 lb. 3,779 lb. 3,819 lb. 3,958 lb. 4,001 lb.
GT Dimensions
Wheel Base (in): 106.7
Overall Length (in): 182.8
Overall Height at curb (in): 44.3
Overall Width (in): 76.9
Front Track (in): 63
Rear Track (in): 63.7
Hmmmm. The GT is narrower and shorter, not to mention lighter than a Jag sedan (a.k.a. saloon - although we all know the proper usage for the word saloon comes from Texas, as in watering hole for real men).
I rest my case.
King, I fully understand that English roads can be narrow even for a donkey cart. My first car (when I was 14) was a Mini Cooper. I have had several English cars, including two Sunbeam Tigers when I was a teenager, and I've always admired the British cars for their designs. And they are easy to work on, which is nice because they usually need a lot of ongoing work. :wink
But I still think this question of roads is irrelevant to the purview of an automotive enthusiast magazine that strives to reach a global audience, unless they want to rename it "Classic and Sports Cars That We Can Only Drive on English Country Roads". And I stand by my observations that the negative remarks of the two gentlemen are petty, obnoxious and plain wrong - no matter how experienced they may be. They come off as snobs also.
Forthwith I will prove the 'size issue' Walsh brings up is bogus. Let's compare the size of the Jaguar to the Ford GT:
Jaguar XJ dimensions:
Exterior Dimensions XJ8 XJ8L Vanden Plas XJR Super V8
Length 200.4 in. 205.3 in. 205.3 in. 200.4 in. 205.3 in.
Height 57.0 in. 57.3 in. 57.3 in. 57.0 in. 57.3 in.
Width 83.0 in. 83.0 in. 83.0 in. 83.0 in. 83.0 in.
Wheelbase 119.4 in. 124.4 in. 124.4 in. 119.4 in. 124.4 in.
Curb weight 3,726 lb. 3,779 lb. 3,819 lb. 3,958 lb. 4,001 lb.
GT Dimensions
Wheel Base (in): 106.7
Overall Length (in): 182.8
Overall Height at curb (in): 44.3
Overall Width (in): 76.9
Front Track (in): 63
Rear Track (in): 63.7
Hmmmm. The GT is narrower and shorter, not to mention lighter than a Jag sedan (a.k.a. saloon - although we all know the proper usage for the word saloon comes from Texas, as in watering hole for real men).
I rest my case.
Spirit
Heritage GT Owner
Saloon
MAD IN NC & I (both of whom know saloons very well) did the Texas Saloon thing Tuesday evening; (woops No It WAS Wednesday, I think) in Dallas. Thank You Very Much!!:cheers Great Evening (I Think); no it really was a great time. Mike, are you home yet? Saloons in North Carolina are next on the agenda!!Red Rocket said:
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Red Rocket
GT Owner
Hey Spirit! It seems Texans have elevated saloons to their highest art form - it's no wonder so many Germans wanna be Texans!! I have many friends and clients in Dallas, and I always enjoy visits down there. Texans have a great 'can-do' attitude, even more-so than most Americans, and that is saying a lot. The women can be stunning also.
AtomicGT
GT Owner
The English editors of this Classic Magazine are just using an indirect way at bashing America, like the rest of the world. They are obviously pinheads, probably wear pin striped suits, plaid shirt with a white collar, a purple stripe tie and .... what ever! Don't buy the magazine, I travel to England frequently, love the country, have great friends there, they have the best pubs in the world, just lke any other country there are losers, and these losers unfortunately have a pen. I would completely ignor them!
Just fired up the GT V8 and enjoy the ride.
:cheers
Just fired up the GT V8 and enjoy the ride.
:cheers
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Kingveloce
GT Owner
Red Rocket said:
Not so fast! The width figure you have quoted for the Jaguar (and this is the only figure relevant to this debate) is from door mirror to door mirror. When the mirrors are folded the Jag is 73.3 inches wide... or, to put it another way, slimmer than the GT.
More importantly, I wouldn't want to drive either down a seriously narrow English country lane.
Kingveloce
GT Owner
Sedans are too slow
I almost forgot, I've just checked out the dictionary definition of sedan.
se·dan or se·dan chair n
in the 17th and 18th centuries, an enclosed chair carried by porters at the front and rear on two long poles passed through handles on the sides of the box
So top speed, say 3mph? No wonder we European stick to saloon. :lol
I almost forgot, I've just checked out the dictionary definition of sedan.
se·dan or se·dan chair n
in the 17th and 18th centuries, an enclosed chair carried by porters at the front and rear on two long poles passed through handles on the sides of the box
So top speed, say 3mph? No wonder we European stick to saloon. :lol