Welcome back, and come on in to Last Chance Garage. Please be careful; don't slip on the oil spot or trip over the floor jack. Here, let me wipe the dust and cobwebs off this stool. Have a seat while I catch you up on what's happened here since we last powered down the open sign and gave the Ferrari 250 GTO project a break. My, how time has passed. The good news is that we've made some great progress since then.
I'd especially like to welcome newcomers to LCG. The opportunity to share all the achievements, trials, and tribulations encountered by an average hobbyist while building a handcrafted car in what's essentially my garage is one that I take on enthusiastically. As with any major project, there are times when the best-laid plans don't quite hold and you have to fall back on contingency plans. I often refer to this as pulling out plan B and giving it a go. So far, plan B hasn't let me down, but the side effect is normally a project delay. That's exactly what happened here. I had to close down the shop until I could clear some hurdles and get back to the business of having some fun in the garage.
After successfully completing a Cobra replica build several years ago, I threw caution to the wind and embarked on a project that would challenge my recently learned automotive assembly skills. The new project would force me to learn something about automotive engineering, chassis fabrication, body building, and creative parts sourcing. I chose to build a near replica of a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO from scratch. I say near replica, because early in the project planning stages I decided to base the car on late-model C5 Corvette running gear while wrapping it in the shape of a premiere '60s-era Italian GT sports car. The goal was to create a car that looks authentic but performs like a modern-day supercar when in motion. The project is into its fifth year, but my philosophy is similar to that of making a fine wine. Patience needs to be exercised, and the quality of the outcome cannot be compromised for the sake of time.
Let's turn back the clock and fill you in on some early project milestones. The chassis is a space frame design made entirely of Drawn Over Mandrel (DOM) steel tubes. The completed chassis as pictured weighs 465 pounds, with about 20 more pounds on the rear than the front. It's made up of approximately 350 linear feet of seamless 1,020 round tubing in a mix of 1.5-inch, 1-inch, and 3/4-inch diameters. The chassis has an integral SCCA-specification rollcage for added strength and safety. It's held together by 5 pounds of welding rod making up 380 welded joints. During welding, I used the TIG method. I've used about 150 inches of 1/16-inch-diameter tungsten electrode and 14 cylinders of argon shielding gas. That's enough argon gas to fill about 7,900 basketballs! I'm guessing some of these numbers aren't all that meaningful, but sometimes statistics can be fun and give a different perspective.
The car is classified as a front engine design, although the engine is actually located nearer mid-chassis than front. Staying with the C5 Corvette design, the engine is linked to a rear-mounted six-speed transaxle via a hollow tube member containing an aluminum driveshaft. The control arms, suspension, halfshafts, and braking system are from a '98 Corvette that experienced an early demise. This setup results in a 58 percent rear to 42 percent front weight ratio with the chassis in go-kart form prior to adding fluids. With the rear-mounted fuel cell topped off, I expect this weight bias to be even greater on the rear. I won't know the final front-to-rear weight bias until the project reaches completion and all the parts are in place, though.
The engine is a '00 LS1 crate motor with a factory rating of 345 horsepower. I acquired this yet-to-be-used motor through creative parts sourcing over eBay for about half what GM charges if bought through a dealer. My general philosophy with powerplants is that generous horsepower is not enough, so I've sourced a supercharger to make sure the car's occupants are given a healthy dose of acceleration g-force when the loud pedal is pressed. I also want to keep with the overhead-cam spirit of the original Ferrari V-12. Hence, I'm converting the motor to a custom SOHC setup. Stay tuned, as motor modifications will be covered in detail in future LCG articles.
During early project planning, I looked high and low for a source to acquire a high-quality 250 GTO body. A couple of kit car manufacturers advertised them, but upon further investigation, none of the sources panned out. I then came to the conclusion that I had to either fork over some serious dough for a professionally built custom body or roll up my shirtsleeves and have a go at it myself. Being the adventurous type and not one to let dollars slip from my wallet easily, it was a fairly easy decision. I elected to do most of the work myself and go the fiberglass composite direction versus an aluminum route.
Building a proper composite body requires a full-size buck or pattern to make a mold. Given the large seven-figure value of original GTOs, I knew trying to find an original to "splash" was a non-starter. In addition, the full-width C5 running gear meant I'd need a body 6 inches wider than the original. This meant I'd need a pattern proportionally wider across the full width of the body. With no simple answer, the focus at LCG turned to sculpting a pattern until I had a GTO body mockup I'd be proud to show off. I call it a C5 GTO since it has a bit more of a muscular look than the original, with its wider stance and sharp lines, but it still maintains the flowing curves of its Italian heritage.
It's about here in the story that plan B makes its entrance. I found a very knowledgeable fiberglass business who was interested in partnering up with me on the next stage of the project. They forecasted six weeks to turn the pattern into a mold that could be used to make my body. Like most businesses that are good in their trade, this one was very busy with commercial-type projects. You can probably see where this is going-six weeks turned into nine months. I was forced to close down LCG for lack of progress. During difficult project stretches, I exercised patience and adjusted with the circumstances.
The good news is that the 2006 Northern California Handcrafted Auto Concourse ("An Eclectic Gathering," Jan. '07 KIT CAR) was a coming-out party of sorts for the GTO. The chassis arrived back at LCG just in time for a quick clean-up and it was show ready in the Under Construction category. By mid-morning the first day of the show, the first two test bodies out of the mold were proudly displayed beside the chassis. LCG was now re-open for business, with quite a bit of cutting, grinding, and welding as cooling and exhaust systems are being constructed. These projects will be the focus of upcoming articles. I'm glad you stopped by, and I look forward to having you as a regular here at LCG.