Gentlemen,
Amen to this. Want to experience real GT enthusiasm? Come to Rally 14 where ever the hell (and whenever) that might be. An orgy of GT owners destroying the investment value of their cars by driving them 500 miles in three days acquiring stone chips, perhaps a windshield star, and in my case, a flat tire on a 2017 GT a long way from home with no spare!
I often think back to our 6 GT caravan drive around Europe and to Le Mans in 2016. Well over 1000 miles, half of it in the rain, one GT totaled, the other 5 damaged in some way getting them there and back, AND IT WAS FRIGGING AWESOME!!! Literally a lifetime highlight for all of us.
Despite diminished resale values we all leave the Rallies richer in those things that truly matter.
So what's it all about? Possession, or experience?
One more analogy. Most of the people I know who have been on a holiday in Africa stayed in a nice hotel, and ventured out during the day riding in a passenger van to view the wildlife from the road in the comfort of their padded seats. For additional adventure some of them would roll their windows down or peer out of the open top. The animals were use to the vehicles and not that wild anymore. Afterwards they'd all retire to the Lodge for cocktails and a fine meal. They were there, but they didn't see or experience truly wild Africa. They paid for a seat and got to look at it. The cost for such an experience was modest.
But for 20 times that amount of money you can be flown hundreds of miles out into the middle of truly wild Africa where there have never been any roads, any fences, or any buildings. You can live for three weeks in a tented camp and walk 12 hours a day trying to catch up to a herd of fast-moving elephant without even knowing if any bulls had ivory long enough to make it worth the effort. You can feel the sting of 50 painful tsetse fly bites every day and make it back to camp soaked with sweat. You can hear the tin can stone rattling breathing of a big leopard as it passes within 10 feet of your blind, the deafening roar of a lion charging out of the tall grass straight at you, and watch the blinding speed of a Cheetah swiping the back legs out from underneath an Impala at nearly 70 miles an hour. Then return to your tented camp with no hot and cold running water at the end of each day. The sites, the sounds, and the smell of those last truly wild places was magic. Option two was certainly a shitty financial investment but in what really matters those trips made me a wealthy man.
I know what it's like to spin a Ford GT on the track at triple digit speeds, to chase my friends at insane velocities on some amazing roads all over the US and Europe, I know what the cars feel like, how they respond, how they sound, and even how they smell when they're seriously being used. With nearly 8000 miles on it my 2017 Ford GT would not garner any amazing bids on Bring a Trailer. Nor would my 2006 with 28,000 miles. But they've made me far wealthier than any individual who deposited a check for $1.3 million after they relinquished a new GT they never really experienced. They paid for that seat, got to look at it, scored a financial gain, and will go to the next world never knowing what that incredible car was really like. Is that honestly the better deal?
That's my take on it. All the best.
Chip
