Thanks for this Joey. The stuff dreams are made of for car geeks.
Ironically, I was heading to my son's fall baseball game the weekend before, and what blows by? A yellow GT40, a kit car for sure, or so I thought. When I drove up behind him in my wagon, the license plate said GT40 MkV, so I pulled next to the driver (steering wheel on the right side!) and asked if it was a Safir MkV car. He replied yes, and that he was on the way to the Birtish Car Show at a local college. We exchanged business cards, and I called him early in the following week and went to see his shop where he rebuilds British race car engines (Cosworth, Lotus, BMC, etc.). At the shop he has the GT40and a killer 289 '64 Cobra race car.
His MkV is an early 1966 MkI style; original rear cover, not the flared out '68-'69 body nor the multi vented MkIIs. You can't believe how small the car looks compared to our GTs; the interior is CRAMPED. Any passenger would literally rub shoulders with the driver. Foot space is adequate, head room is tight, especially if one's taller than 6', and getting in revolves around stepping onto the gun wale (gas tank), sliding both feet down gingerly around the steering wheel, and lowering into the seat.
His car has a stroked 302 to 331ci, with 4 downdraft Webers; sounds AMAZING but is verrrry loud inside. Earplugs probably a good idea if going for a longer drive. Total dry weight; about 2000 lbs.
When the front wheel cover (storage lid for car cover in our cars) was lifted out, there is basically nothing there but suspension parts, and coolant lines. In the original cars, an actual spare tire had be in there. Similarly, with the rear clam shell open, one can see how bare bones these race cars were. It should be noted how great a job recreating the GT40 into the GT the Ford team did; ours are merely civilized-11/10ths versions of the greatest long distance streetable race cars ever made. The MkV's owner, Barry Sale commented how big the GT was in comparison, but also that it was absolutely livable.
I'll try and post some pix on my next visit as I was camera free the day we got together.