It was early on in my T-jet building days that I decided I had to have one of the famous and sought-after Aurora Ford GT-40’s. The Auto World release of this car is inexplicably almost impossible to find; the original Model Motoring issue, on the other hand, is plentiful…but that doesn’t keep it from being expensive! Ever since the release of the excellent movie “Ford V. Ferrari” early in 2020, interest in the GT-40 has understandably skyrocketed, and values on these cars seem to keep going up.
I’m happy to say I’ve acquired 3 really nice ones, but they all cost me dearly, and each one was more expensive than the last. Which leads me to the car profiled here, which is actually the first one I bought; having never owned one, I wanted to start on the lower end of the price scale to see if I liked the structure of the car, if it would fit my chassis type, and if it really looked as good in person as it did on the internet.
This body was made in nearly every color ever available on a T-jet, including the desirable metallic painted ones. Some are much rarer than others, but it seems like all are expensive today. I liked the look of the “Wildones” release from the early ’70’s (Wil-doans? Yeah yeah, I know it’s “Wild Ones”, but they didn’t space it out, so it looks like “Wil-doans”). This version was a spectacular stark white-a true white, not the off white/cream more commonly seen on the older Model Motoring releases-and decorated with broad orange stripes piped in black. It was a great looking issue, and every one I found for sale that was in decent condition had an outrageous asking price. So, I settled on one that wasn’t in decent condition!
One look at this GT-40 and anyone can see it’s had a hard life. So, the story is that I bought this from the original owner (that’s right, it’s a one owner car!) and it was still mounted on an early thin-wheeled T-jet chassis. The decals on it-the black on white Ford ovals and the “United States Auto Club” logo-were originals that came on the decal sheet sold with the “Wildones” and were applied by that original owner. I noted when I bought it that the rear wheel arches had been enlarged, but unlike most of the “used” models that show up online that look like someone used a butter knife on them, this one was (almost) competently done; there’s still some “waviness” to the plastic in those rear arches, but at least the cut surface is smooth and the openings are roughly the same size on each side, showing that whoever did it not only used an appropriate tool but also paid some attention to what they were doing and at least made an effort at getting a decent result.
When it arrived in the mail I was surprised to find the chassis it was on was in great condition and ran better than just about any original T-Jet I’ve bought; it was so good that it wound up on one of my expensive MEV bodies (and a post on that is coming soon)! Of course the originals, no matter how cool they are, cannot compete in a race with the new Auto World Ultra-G’s, but the body dropped right on to an Ultra-G with no modification at all save for a shim at the back screw post to provide clearance between the rear window and the rear gear. Nice!
Initially I mounted it on a transparent red chassis due to the car’s large glass area, and fitted a set of chrome Vincent wheels. It looked great, but the red chassis have been extremely disappointing in terms of performance so it wasn’t long before I had a standard black chassis on it. I always thought the chrome wheels looked a little wrong, and I recently found a set of original “Tuff Ones”-style wheels moulded in bright colors being sold in sets of 5 by Slot Car Central, a vendor in Syracuse, NY that I buy from frequently. I bought their “pack of 5” for the orange colored set, and was happy to find they were a very close match to the orange stripes. Unfortunately the stock Auto World tires did not fit the front hubs, as they were designed for the original skinny tires, but the rear hubs were a fit, so when I set it up I used a pair of the awesome new Firestone “Goldline” indy-style tires for the rear and a good, tight set of tires salvaged from a Cigar Box conversion on the front. I was quite pleased with the result.
The only modification I’ve made to the body is the racing number; this one was pre-printed with the number 5. Originally I kept that, but when I bought the light blue “Flamethrower” version which had the same number, I elected to leave that one #5 and change this one to a white on black roundel, which I thought would look just fine on this body. I chose the #76 because I had decals of that number with 3 smaller sizes perfect for the doors and deck lid and one large one that was a perfect fit for the number space on the front.
Over time I’ve come to appreciate the correlation of the number 76-the year of the American revolution-being on a roughed up model of the first American-made car to win LeMans. Today, this car looks like what it is: an unrestored racing car from the past that still bears its battle scars. Its radiused rear wheel arches, the cracked windshield, and distressed paint are the real definition of “patina” (as opposed to unrestorable junk), and speak to a racing career filled with dust and glory.
Who’s to say, here in 2021, what adventures this car has had in its past; what distant racing tracks it prowled, what victories and heartaches it-and its previous drivers-have known. Today, it lives in my ever growing fleet where it is now racing again, hopefully happy to be reliving those glory days of its past!
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