Purchasing a turnkey-minus car may be the swiftest way to getting your replica on the road. If you don't have the time to install the powertrain, hire an expert. Selecting the right shop is a challenging proposition. Every engine builder claims they have the secret recipe to achieving high performance. It's as if all these shops learned from Kentucky Fried Chicken guru Colonel Sanders himself. You add a pinch of connecting rods, allow that lopey camshaft to come to a light simmer, sprinkle on some roller rockers, and rev the rotating assembly to warp speed. Voila! Lightning in a bottle always sounds good, but the proof is on the dyno and finally put down on the pavement.
British-born John Place, now Stateside in Danville, California, is no stranger to building and owning speedy street machines. His first effort was a decidedly American Anglo MG TD that had a Ford 390 V-8 and big meats at each corner. The car was so hopped up it hardly looked like the classic early-'50s British roadster that was its lineage. After years of creating street-credible cars, John realized a lifelong dream--to own a GT40 replica. He bought a turnkey-minus '03 CAV '65 Ford GT40 Mk I since it looks very much like the original and is well advanced in design and production.
The dealer who sold John the CAV recommended an engine maestro, Joe Leonard. Called JC Performance, Joe's shop is nestled in Grover Beach, a quaint seaside town in Central California. Almost four hours from John's home in Danville, John headed south and visited with Joe. He decided JC Performance had the wherewithal to craft a potent powerplant for the GT40. John asked the CAV dealer to deliver his car to the shop while he and Joe talked about what sort of engine/trans should find a home under the GT40's tilt-back bonnet.
Joe's quite accomplished at building, balancing, and blueprinting Ford engines. He specializes in GT40 and Cobra completions for Superformance and CAV (also known as Auto Futura). Having worked on his first Cobra, an original 260, back in '67, Mr. Leonard knows a thing or two about Ford mills. In '73 and '74, he was the chief machinist for Can Am I and Can Am 5000 racing teams. If anyone has some secret speed recipes for Fords, it's Mr. Leonard. Maybe we should call him Colonel Leonard?
After receiving the CAV sprayed PPG BMW Blue '03 GT40 from the Southern California CAV dealer, Mark Frazier added a bright white racing stripe to the supercar's exterior at the JC Performance shop. Striped like the famous Gulf Team GT40s that won Le Mans in '68 and '69, but with a different paint color scheme, the owner thought the car would be even more striking. He was right.By selecting a Dart aluminum 427 Windsor engine and an RBT inverted ZF five-speed Pantera-type trans, John was right again. JC Performance built the engine to make 550 horsepower and the same amount of torque, which he confirmed on the shop's engine dyno. Joe made the car's cockpit more comfortable by adding Dynamat insulation and safer by installing a fire protection system.
John took delivery of the GT40 in October '05. We'd like to say this car is the fastest he has ever owned, but fortunately for him, that's not the case. He has a cavernous garage/shop with many fine collectible super/sports/musclecars and trucks. What is 100 percent true, as of this writing, is that the GT40 is his favorite. Of course, by the time you're reading this story, that may have changed. John might have just finished a new favorite.