Speaking of GT being derived from European roots, the original Mustang was Ford's version of the 1960's Maseratis. They copied the basic design, right down to the grille with a floating emblem, logo, or animal symbol.

The Maseratis were true GTs with four seats and a large displacement engine mated to a small chassis. Like Rhumb said, a more civilized sports-car.

The original Mustang was thought to be quite girly, or as Carroll Shelby said, "A secretaries car." This was because of their added civility gained through a backseat. Real American racers were 2-seaters.

This is how the Mustang came about having created their own niche and furthermore class of vehicle. The "pony" car class of vehicles is widely thought of to have been inspired by the original "pony car," the Mustang. Nowadays however, people will say it is due to the large horse power engines that found their way into these vehicles.

Mustang GT = American originality inspired from a European theme.

 

Well, as they say, expertise is not necessarily coming up with the information in the first place as much as knowing where to find it. [/b][/quote]
Exactly... I wasn't doggin' ya by any means. Like you're suggesting, some people just don't know where to find stuff like that.... and some people just aren't as resourceful (not doggin' on you either PonyGirl).

 

Exactly... I wasn't doggin' ya by any means. Like you're suggesting, some people just don't know where to find stuff like that.... and some people just aren't as resourceful (not doggin' on you either PonyGirl). [/b][/quote]
Oh, I know, all in good fun.

There's some joke along those lines where some guy goes in to see some old, distinguished senior lawyer in an big established law firm. The guy asks the lawyer if he could advise on a certain arcane point of law.

The august lawyer says, "of course," and excuses himself for five minutes as he goes deep into the firm's vast law library to pull out a dusty old tome, opening it up immediately to a particular esoteric legal precedence.

"Perfect," says the inquiring gentleman, "that is just the citation I needed. How much do I owe you?"

"That will come to exactly $1,205."

"$1,205!!! How could you charge me $1,200 for five minutes of work?"

"Well, my dear sir, that was $5 dollars for the five minutes of my time to retrieve that citation, $1,200 for my knowing WHERE to find that citation."

 

Because in 1970 car companies had to sell 1000 units (500 in'69) to make it legal in NASCAR. Ford realized they would have problems selling 1000 Torinos with the 429 engine.

 

Because in 1970 car companies had to sell 1000 units (500 in'69) to make it legal in NASCAR. Ford realized they would have problems selling 1000 Torinos with the 429 engine. [/b][/quote]
The Torino was available with a 428 SCJ (Super Cobra Jet for those who don't know) which was one BA engine.... I don't believe they had any trouble selling those....

 

That's a good little anecdote rhumb.... I've heard it before once upon a time, and it's vaguely familiar, but yeah.... there are those that don't know everything, but they know where to find everything.

 

The Torino was available with a 428 SCJ (Super Cobra Jet for those who don't know) which was one BA engine.... I don't believe they had any trouble selling those.... [/b][/quote]
The 428 SCJ was not avalible in 1970. In 1970 the big block offerings were the 429 CJ the 429 SCJ and the 429 BOSS. The 429 Boss was an expensive option and Ford had to offer it in the more popular mustang as well, to be able to sell the required 1000 units.

 

I'm thr furthest one from an expert on the Torino.... or from knowing all the details back in the day....
So... for my education.... what year did they stop producing the FE blocks.... I know the 352?, 390, and 429, amungst others were FE blocks, and the 428 and 460 were the same engine family... I know there were 429s in the Stangs and Cougars up thru '73, , and the 428 was available in the F series trucks as early as '74, perhaps earlier.... I thought that's what was in the GT500's.... the 428 PI in '67 and the 428SCJ in the '68s +... so.... help me learn somethin' brutha.

 

The 429, then englarged to 460, were new, more modern designs that replaced the old, heavy FE engine family, which, I believe, happened pretty much across the line for 1971 (at least for the Stang). Perhaps the FE engines held on a bit longer in the truck lines, much like the old Windsor engine did lately after the advent of the Mod motor series.

 

I thought the 460 wan't an FE.... I thought the 428 and the 460 were a different family.... the 429 was the FE ?

 

The big block FE family included had the 352, 390, 406, 427 and 428.
The succeeding big block ?? family was primarily/exclusively (?) the 429 (regular heads and Boss semi-hemi) and 460.

The small block Windsor family had the 221, 260, 289, 302 and 351. There was also some miserable, forgetable, 4.2 gas miser version for a year or two in the early '80s.
The small/mid block Cleveland family had the 351 and 400.

The Mod motor family includes the 4.6 (281) short block, the 5.4 (330) tall block and the 6.4 (415) long block V10. All of these have had a variety of 2, 3 and 4V heads, excepting the V10, which only had the 2 and 3V heads. They also have evolved design and material-wise, migrating to all aluminum, in their block designs.

A few other V8s included the:
3.9, 4.0, 4.2 AJ(/Lima?) family (Jags, T-Bird, Lincoln LS, and sort of the basis for the Aston Martin DB8)
3.4 Taurus SHO (60 degree Yamaha design, a decendent of which can now be found in the Volvo XC in 4.4 form.)

 

Good luck getting it for that even if you had the money. From what I understand you have to have own a F40 and F50 just to get on the list to receive one. Then they will sell it to you for more than 1 million dollars.

 

^talk about overkill....lol

 

AMC's pony car racer was the AMX which was based on a shortened javalin body (possibly chassis, I cant remember) at least in the first go round. Succeeding AMX's IIRC were dolled up javalins.

 

GT=Get Tickets!

 

Hammy, speaking of European influnce on Carol Shelby, I just thought of the Lamborghini 350 GT and 400 GT. 350 GT --> GT350 Hmmmm. I think ol' Shelby saw this too.

 

I didn't write this, I stole it like everyone else does


The origins of grand touring
Already in the course of the first years of the Twenties, the great technical progress achieved in the automobile industry allowed the volume production of the first powerful and fast cars.
Such automobiles felt the effects of the influence of competitions and Concourses d'Elegance which took place in the most exclusive international localities, like Monte Carlo, Cannes or Deauville. They were reserved for custom-built cars, works of the most famous body builders of the time.

In those years were born the most beautiful Bugattis, Isotta Fraschinis and Alfa Romeos.

The binomial speed-elegance lived its period of greatest splendour at the end of the 1920's when the great automobile companies provided to the carrozzeria chassis which were true [veri e propri] masterpieces of technology. The automobile was endowed with, finally, its own identity without any analogies to the horse-drawn carriage.

In those same years the name "Grand Touring" was born in Italy. Initially it was given to cars that offered the maximum comfort and a high grade of mechanical reliability. Successively, the name GT itself changed meaning to indicate, instead, cars with a [prettamente] (decidedly?) sporting character. Very quickly this term was also adopted abroad, since it married to perfection with the image of fast and sporting cars.

One of the first Italian cars to carry this acronym was the Alfa Romeo 1750 GT of 1931, bodied by Carrozzeria Touring. This car represented perfectly the new concept of grand touring; as well as on the road it was in fact used in competition, and brought back achievements of importance.

After the second world war, the concept of GT, even if slowly, came to be transformed.

In postwar Italy, the recognised homeland of the grand tourers, began the destiny of these cars, from the end of the 1950's to the first years of the 1970's, that is from the end of postwar reconstruction to the oil crisis.

With the diffusion of a certain well being and with a higher purchasing power the number of sporting clients longing for fast cars, luxurious and comfortable, specialised for the new motorways, increased.

In those years there emerged the image of the future GT in Italy: high speed, ability to maintain high averages under various types of journeys, given considerable ease of handling and roadholding.

Alfa Romeo, already a protagonist in the sector with the 1900 Sprint, launched in 1954, surprised the international market with the Giulietta Sprint, a grand tourer of only 1290 cc.

This car represented a new concept of GT: medium capacity, sophisticated mechanicals, excellent performance and great ease of handling.

From this moment, capacity, power and, therefore, high speed no longer represented absolute criteria for qualifying as a grand tourer.

 

GT = GOOSE the THROTTLE

 

Nice find Ian.

 

Last time I checked, although the MSRP of an Enzo was only 700,000, the average selling price was somewhere near 2.2 mil. That kid better start saving now if he wants one anytime soon