Meeting at Monterey in '06?

[bitzman]

Anybody who has been to Monterey for the vintage events knows it is:

expensive
-hard to find a room
expensive
-crowded
expensive

Did I say expensive? Well, I go every year regardless. There actually are hotels under $100 a room if you go inland about 20 miles, to the North or the East.

I would say the best place for Ford GT owners to meet would be at the Monterey Historics on Friday or Saturday, though unless they pay extra for paddock parking they won't be able to all park in one place. I would recommend joining Pantera Int. because they have reserved parking, have mid engined Ford cars and a gourmet lunch.

The Concorso Italiano is a good event on Friday but don't think they will put all the Ford GTs in one place unless there is some special arrangement. Maybe the website officials can contact them. The new owners are quite cordial.

At Pebble Beach, forget special parking, in fact forget even parking near the event--you have to get up at 6 am and start out early and still end up taking a bus from the parking areas.

A fun thing to do would be to meet up Friday or Sat after the races at some place near Monterey and then convoy down the Coast of Big Sur to someplace for dinner (again hard to get reservations that weekend). Be sure to get gas before you leave MOnterey because I could not find a gas station in Big Sur.

This is the same road, Highway 1, that journalists drove in the GT to the Laguna Seca preview.

Some rough costs: Racetrack: $40 day each ticket Concorso : 50? can't remember. Pebble: $140-150 a ticket.

A heavy toll on the wallet but where else can you be in a single weekend where you can talk to people like Bondurant, some of the Shelby mechanics, see original Cobra 289 and 427s and Ford GTs run, and then see cars sell for millions at the auctions each night (I think there's nine auctions that weekend).

One of the road testers once commented in a Ford GT road test that he and his wife had to ship their baggage up ahead when they discovered there was no room for a suitcase in a Ford GT. You might have to consider this once you have your hotel accomodations locked in--or have a friend with a van bring your luggage up and back.

Last year, although the Ford GT was being sold, I didn't see any privately owned ones, but in '06, with about 2000 sold by then, I expect to see a half dozen flying the blue oval. I hope they can connect up and tool through the parking areas of Laguna Seca, downtown Monterey and Carmel to show those Ferrari and Lambo guys that their domination of the hi-po mid-engined road car market is at an end.

 

[SLF360]

Parking at monterey !

Honestly guys,

I think FoMoCo needs to start sponsoring important support at get-togethers like Monterey ! :bored
In this case, the least (apart from a dedicated entertainment tent for owners& co) would be to provide dedicated GT parking free of charge in a prime spot ... Also to make photo opportunities for the paying crowd, of 'the one for a whole company'... :banana
As a marketing expert, I should charge for this and work out an entire plan of how to get the max effect out of the development of the one car for an entire company...This is soooo undermarketed and handled wrong and poorly underskilled, we can't even want to discuss it publically ! :thumbsdow FoMoCo, pls wake up, or is them'ol just out of their league !!!?

slf

 

[wonkawonka]

Right on, SLF360. If this were done right, I'd even wait until after the Monterey event to ship my car overseas to where I'll be. As it stands, I see no reason why I should bother bringing the car up to Monterey (barely a 5-hour drive) through all the hassle.

 

[B O N Y]

Right on, SLF360. If this were done right, I'd even wait until after the Monterey event to ship my car overseas to where I'll be. As it stands, I see no reason why I should bother bringing the car up to Monterey (barely a 5-hour drive) through all the hassle.

Got to agree with you folks, FOMOCO needs to step up. Have you seen some of the factory sponsored Viper events?


Regarding Monterey, I go every year, spend a morning at Laguna Seca, attend Concourso, and Peeble Beach. I think it is one of the best care weeks going.
On Thursday many Peeble Beach cars take a tour and stop two hours for a picnic lunch in the park at Carmel,....very neat!! :biggrin :cheers

 

[bitzman]

Speaking of Viper

I remember how shocked I was to see a Viper Owners Only tent at Monterey and various Viper owners walking about with name badges like "Joe Orlone, Daytona Beach, Viper SN_____" blah blah. I thought "Chrysler is doing it right,backing a car club, making sure the owners feel special.I am sure that many Viper had never been to a vintage race but now not only were they at one but Chrysler's guests.

Also there is a fine Viper magazine--but where is the Ford GT magazine?

You might say, well, give it time but both the Viper Owners club and the magazine were jelling as the Vipers hit the showrooms as I remember. I am afraid Ford doesn't think it's important or may be relying on the Shelby American Automobile Club to give the GT owners a venue to show and club race their cars. SAAC has already announced they will list the new Ford GTs in their register. The only trouble is that their magazine comes out on no regular basis , at least not regular like the Viper magazine, offcial Corvette magazine, etc.

I hate to see Ford's shot at having a good owner's group that will show up at events with 10-20 cars lost because no one wanted to spend the money (and to think they've given away three Ford GTs to charity already, that's over half a mill....)

 

[Awsum GT]

I am one of the regional presidents of the Viper Club of America. The VCA didn't start while the Vipers were arriving at the dealers. It actually began with a northern California club not supported by Dodge or Chrysler. Once that club was established a few other areas across the United States caught wind of the club and made contact such as we are doing here and met with Dodge and slowly began putting together the VCA. Today we have regions across the United States and Europe and Asia.

Dodge did help support our clubs at events such as the Concours Italiano and Laguna Seca. They also began holding large events across the US spending millions of dollars to help the VCA grow to the great club we are today. They have since began to cut back on the smaller events and we pay for the majority of the goodies such as the tents and food at the events we attend.

I started the Central California region of the VCA when it was evident we had enough members in our area to support a club in our area. The members join the national club and then are assigned to the region nearest them. The VCA now holds a regional event ever odd numbered year and a national event every even year. They go overboard on the events also. They even arrange for lower cost transportation of our Vipers to the location of the National events. We've been to Detroit, Monterey, Las Vegas, Orlando, Indy, St Louis, Texas, Nashville. They usually have track events, autocross, drag races, dinners. cruises etc.

Now that there are a number of the Ford GT's out to the public, Ford may be interested in planing something for us. The difference is in the VCA there are around 2,500 Vipers built each year. Each new purchaser is automatically assigned to a region and the 1st year membership is paid for by Dodge. It is up the them to pay after the first year. With the Ford GT there are a limited number of cars and owners. I'm not so sure they would do anything for a car of such a limited run.

It would be great to have an event with as many GT's as we could get together in one location. Maybe we need to start our own club before Ford will get involved?

 

[B O N Y]

Sound good. I would be very interested to joining a group. Obviously a group could take advantage of SAAC's on track events which are regional and national in nature. I am open to hear more :biggrin

 

[bitzman]

Two or three vintage events would be best

The SAAC events are a good base to start as an annual meetring place for Ford GT owners in that they might have some old GT40s there, and certainly have Cobras and Shelbys.
But the SAAC events I attended, 3 or 4 of them going back to the early ones) lack a certain savoir faire that I (maybe being an ex-Ferrari snob) associate with expensive hand made GT cars, so I hope whatever Ford GT club emerges will also plan owner gatherings to take place concurrent with various & sundry vintage events like

Monterey
Lime rock
atlanta
Woodward Cruise

or even various concours like

Eyes on the Classic
Pebble Beach
Meadowbrook
Amelia Island

I don't know the name of it and it may be too exclusive already but one of the in places to go at Monterey is the Jet Center on Wednesday--that's where the in crowd goes to kick off the whole week. It just adds to the expense of Monterey, meaning you have to go another day earlier.

All the Ford GT owners would need is a hospitality tent, one or two of the club's cars displayed, and maybe a road tour of the area the eveving before the event to make their presence known. I know the Lamborghini group has something called something like "the running of the bulls" (anti Lambo people can take off the "s") where they drive from SoCal to Monterey at a brisk clip, accompanied by the CHP, and it's a sight to see--fifty or so Lambos charging along. It puts the marque's name on the map, and is bolder than the Ferrari people would think of.

Plus some type of club shirt needs to be designed that's tasty yet distinctive, something with a collar, a step above a T-shirt. And a name badge with a chassis number. If Ford Dearborn won't step up to the plate maybe some dealer who has sold several GTs will chip in the bread to make this happen.

There wouldn't have to be expensive dinners, just snacks and soft drinks, but I know that's what I miss about the Ferrari events, the party atmosphere, nice clothing and accourtrements (with lots of support from watch manufacturers and others making Ferrari gear).

I would be disappointed if the Ford GT owners gatherings truned out to be no more fancy than gatherings of Mustang owners considering that the owners of the new cars paid Ferrari-like prices.

 

[B O N Y]

The SAAC events are a good base to start as an annual meetring place for Ford GT owners in that they might have some old GT40s there, and certainly have Cobras and Shelbys.
But the SAAC events I attended, 3 or 4 of them going back to the early ones) lack a certain savoir faire that I (maybe being an ex-Ferrari snob) associate with expensive hand made GT cars, so I hope whatever Ford GT club emerges will also plan owner gatherings to take place concurrent with various & sundry vintage events like

Monterey
Lime rock
atlanta
Woodward Cruise

or even various concours like

Eyes on the Classic
Pebble Beach
Meadowbrook
Amelia Island

I don't know the name of it and it may be too exclusive already but one of the in places to go at Monterey is the Jet Center on Wednesday--that's where the in crowd goes to kick off the whole week. It just adds to the expense of Monterey, meaning you have to go another day earlier.

All the Ford GT owners would need is a hospitality tent, one or two of the club's cars displayed, and maybe a road tour of the area the eveving before the event to make their presence known. I know the Lamborghini group has something called something like "the running of the bulls" (anti Lambo people can take off the "s") where they drive from SoCal to Monterey at a brisk clip, accompanied by the CHP, and it's a sight to see--fifty or so Lambos charging along. It puts the marque's name on the map, and is bolder than the Ferrari people would think of.

Plus some type of club shirt needs to be designed that's tasty yet distinctive, something with a collar, a step above a T-shirt. And a name badge with a chassis number. If Ford Dearborn won't step up to the plate maybe some dealer who has sold several GTs will chip in the bread to make this happen.

There wouldn't have to be expensive dinners, just snacks and soft drinks, but I know that's what I miss about the Ferrari events, the party atmosphere, nice clothing and accourtrements (with lots of support from watch manufacturers and others making Ferrari gear).

I would be disappointed if the Ford GT owners gatherings truned out to be no more fancy than gatherings of Mustang owners considering that the owners of the new cars paid Ferrari-like prices.

Wallace,
The Wednesday night affair at the Jet Center in Monterey is a private party.
At Concourso one can arrange for a corral, and also at Laguna Seca. Although SAAC NorCal always has one, as they do at the Wine Country Classics at Sears Point. I am a SAAC member, the last convention was at
California Speedway and most that attended had a great time.

I bought the GT because it is an American super car, I also own some EYE-TALIAN cars, but don't belong to any owners clubs because I suppose I have Makers Mark running in my blood and not Biondi Santi's estate wines. :biggrin

 

[63Corvette]

Here's an idea....why don't you go to Monterey to see the Historic RACES???