Weddings are always busy, exhausting things, of course, but during our
stay with the in-laws we did manage to spend some time with them.
One of the activities the husband wanted to do with his father was to
go and see this car at one of the local dealerships.
To explain, the husband's business
revolves around car dealerships. The husband, to put it simply, is an
IT strategy guy: he looks at the big picture and finds the most
cost-effective solution to a specific task that his clients need to
accomplish. To put it succinctly: he gets the best bang for his
clients'---car dealerships---buck. There are only a few companies that
provide software for dealerships, and it's outdated, outmoded crap that
falls a hairsbreadth short of extortion when it comes to the price. The
husband is the dealer's advocate when they go to upgrade. In fact, the
reason the husband is currently starting his own software company right
now is because these massive corporations just aren't offering what he
sees is needed for the industry. Hence we're living in entrepreneurial
hell right now, but if this thing succeeds...well, I'm not going to
speculate, but it could be big not only for us, but potentially could
be revolutionary for the entire car selling industry.(Anyone with some
spare cash lying around who wants to invest can email me...the address
is over on the left hand side. Really. No amount is too small.) While
it's not a lot of fun right now, there still is fun to be found in the
midst of all the entrepreneurial nightmares, and we had fun going to
look at this car.
A couple of weeks ago, a contact introduced the husband to a
representative of GT40 North America, because he thought there were
opportunities for both parties in the matter. I'm not going to go into
the details here, but one of the outflows of this meeting is that we
found out one of GT40's was being showcased in a dealership right up
the road from the in-law's house. Being the car geeks that they are,
the husband and the father-in-law wanted to go and see it. Wow, was it
ever impressive!
Next year, Ford is releasing a new GT and
is selling it for about $150K. Or so they say. However, according to
the sales manager at the dealership we visited on Saturday, a few have
actually made it to dealerships in L.A. and Vegas and have been sold
for much, much more than the retail price. Ford's only making 1100 of
them, so when they hit the market, they're actually going for about
$500K in auctions. What's different about the GT40 is that this company
bought the plans and all of the licensing from Ford and they're the
only ones authorized to make this vehicle. In essence the difference
between the two is that one is custom-made for you, the driver, with a
big ass Roush engine that is capable of sustaining speeds upwards of
120mph for hours on end, and the other is made on an assembly line by
union workers who probably don't give a damn. Now, I'm not a big one
for looking at cars that I will never have the skills to drive, but it
was fun checking this car out. The engine is rear-mounted, they had the
hatch popped, and it was a testament to the beauty that could be found
in simplicity. Simple lines, beautifully large exhaust tubes, shiny
chrome---all of that stuff you don't see anymore when you pop the hood
on your car was present and accounted for. Even better, there aren't
any computer chips in this car: it's something you could tinker with
yourself, if that's your thing. You'd have to ask the husband about the
specs for it, I was zoning out by that point in time, but it's low to
the ground and it will go fast. And it's built for your body type, too.
According to the sales guy, if you decide to purchase one of these bad
boys, the company will fly you out to Indianapolis to custom-fit it for
you, as if you were purchasing a suit. What's interesting to me is
that, if this is your sort of thing, this is actually a bargain. It
will cost you much, much less to purchase this model than if you bought
one of the new Ford versions.
To sum up, I will quote Ferris. "If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."