The Ford GT40's construction is, in large measure, the source of its great success.
Years later, this revolutionary engineering also leads to extraordinary challenges for a proper restoration.
Load bearing bulkhead-and-skin, or monocoque, design was just beginning to come into favor
for racecar construction in the early 1960's after becoming the standard for high-performance
aircraft during World War II. The monocoque chassis, or "tub", provided significant gains
in strength and rigidity while attaining a substantial weight savings over tube-framed designs.
The "crumple zones" formed in this construction also provided a major advance in driver protection
in an age of ever-increasing speed.
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The designers of the original GT40 tub briefly considered using the riveted aluminum construction
of the aircraft industry. The unfamiliar materials and techniques involved would have added considerably
to the development time of the design. They decided to use instead the auto constructor's
tried-and-true fabrication of spot-welded sheet steel.
Racecars are generally considered by their builders to be disposable items. Those that survive the wars intact are quickly rendered obsolete by the march of technology and discarded. |
![[Bottom View of GT40 tub with sheeting removed]](opentub.jpg) Bottom View of GT40 tub with sheeting removed. |
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As such, niceties like
the rust-proofing of steel structures is non-existent. The GT40 tub has hundreds of "nooks-and-crannies"
inside that were not protected by so much as a coat of primer paint.
Now, years later, we find that these decisions have created an often overlooked, yet substantial, challenge to restoration...
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No affiliation with General Motors, Safir GT40 Spares, Ltd. or the Ford Motor Company is implied or assumed. |