Ford v Ferrari races into theaters on Nov. 15.

[snakeeyes]

The Ferrari replicas in the film were remarkably well done, but clearly replicas. I wonder who built them and what chassis they were built on. I don’t know when the last time a Ferrari P car changed hands was, but with a GTO going for something like $30 million a year or so back I can only imagine how valuable the rarer prototype Ferraris are.

The thing that stood out to me—and I confess I’m one of the guys who notices things like wrong-sized wheels on the Daytonas—was not those things but how many things the filmmakers got right. They clearly went through great pains to duplicate the very, very early Ford GT that Shelby started with, and it was nice to see things like how they used the right color schemes for the “dead heat” 1966 cars.

Curious that Cobras feature prominently, and we see period-correct Cobra jackets and Shelby American signs on buildings, but the word “Cobra” as far as I recall is never spoken once in the 2 1/2 hours.

I wish they would have portrayed more of Remington as the mechanical engineering wizard he was. They allude to it with the quick-change brakes but beyond that he’s kind of portrayed as a salesman type. I also thought his actor (Ray McKinnon) sounded more like Shelby than Damon did, LOL.

Setting all that aside, I genuinely enjoyed it and thought it did about the best job of avoiding being “another racing movie” as you could ever hope a racing movie would be. The portrayal of Miles as a committed husband and father, and not “just” a driver, was great.

About the best compliment I can pay the film is that, after I sat down, a group of about a dozen teens came in and sat down three seats away. Before it started they were unsurprisingly being noisy and messing around on their phones, and I wondered if I was going to end up having to find another seat. About 30 minutes in, however, I realized they were dead silent and looked over to see all of them watching intently. In the last scene with Miles several were literally on the edge of their seats. And, when the credits rolled and I got up to leave, I was really pleased to hear them clapping loudly. That tells me that the film is a winner with a pretty broad audience and gives me some hope that another generation of young people will be interested enough to learn more about the story.

One more thing—am I the only one who wanted to reach into the screen and turn Damon’s cowboy hat around? LOL

[dallas_]

Snakeeyes,
Race Car Replicas out of Detroit (maker of the SL-C kit) made most of the race cars for the movie.

Saw it last night for the premier in Dallas with the Cobra and Ferrari clubs attending. That made for a fun night.

I thought the movie was really well done. Not Oscar stuff, but very enjoyable.

[snakeeyes]

Originally Posted by dallas_

Snakeeyes,
Race Car Replicas out of Detroit (maker of the SL-C kit) made most of the race cars for the movie.

Saw it last night for the premier in Dallas with the Cobra and Ferrari clubs attending. That made for a fun night.

I thought the movie was really well done. Not Oscar stuff, but very enjoyable.

Thanks for that, Dallas. I think that’s the company Fran Hall started; I bought a set of Gurney Weslake valve covers from him years back. He’s a talented guy and it doesn’t surprise me that the movie cars were so good.

I walked out of the theater thinking how much fun it would have been to have driven a bunch of Cobras there. I’ll bet that was great.

[Gaz64]

There was one part where Miles talked about adjusting the Holley secondaries, and yet the car has Webers.

Gary

[Mark IV]

Promo today on FOX BUSINESS with our 289: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4so6s2xfiv...mance.mov?dl=0

[t walgamuth]

Originally Posted by Gaz64

There was one part where Miles talked about adjusting the Holley secondaries, and yet the car has Webers.

Gary

I thought that at first too, but they had both cobras and GT40s in there. Some of the GTs had Holley carbs so I concluded that he was talking about one of them.

[snakeeyes]

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

I thought that at first too, but they had both cobras and GT40s in there. Some of the GTs had Holley carbs so I concluded that he was talking about one of them.

Yes, the small block cars had Webers and the 427s had Holleys. I can’t recall which variant was in that scene (see my earlier beer comment ).

[cycleguy55]

Originally Posted by Gaz64

There was one part where Miles talked about adjusting the Holley secondaries, and yet the car has Webers.

Gary

I noticed that as well. The 427 cars, of course, used Holley carbs. Did the Mark I 289 GT40s use Webers?

[dallas_]

Originally Posted by snakeeyes

Thanks for that, Dallas. I think that’s the company Fran Hall started; I bought a set of Gurney Weslake valve covers from him years back. He’s a talented guy and it doesn’t surprise me that the movie cars were so good.

I walked out of the theater thinking how much fun it would have been to have driven a bunch of Cobras there. I’ll bet that was great.

Yes, it's Fran. I was up there picking up a new chassis and visited with him for a while about it. It was quite an undertaking for them. He said the movie guys were more interested in the originality of the cars than he was expecting, even to the point of getting accurate taillights for the Ferrari's. Not an easy item to source and most people would never notice a detail like that.

edit: oh, and yes, it was fun having the cobras at the event.

[snakeeyes]

Originally Posted by dallas_

Yes, it's Fran. I was up there picking up a new chassis and visited with him for a while about it. It was quite an undertaking for them. He said the movie guys were more interested in the originality of the cars than he was expecting, even to the point of getting accurate taillights for the Ferrari's. Not an easy item to source and most people would never notice a detail like that.

edit: oh, and yes, it was fun having the cobras at the event.

That’s really cool. I’m sure the budget dictated walking the line between some measure of accuracy and not spending millions on a fleet of replicas. They picked a great source to get them from.

I’d be curious to know how the front suspension was set up on the blue 289 that Damon drives throughout the film. Every time the car goes over a bump it bounces like a AA/Altered funny car with a solid front axle. I’ve never seen a Cobra replica from any manufacturer set up that stiff.

Gaz, that’s funny about the carburetor comment. I remember that scene but I think I was taking a sip from the Bass Ale I was enjoying during the movie during that part

[1795]

The movie was entertaining and has me itching to get back out on the track for next years race season. I will be thing of it every time I hit 7,000 rpms on the track.