The annual Fabulous Fords Forever car show happened this weekend at Knott's Berry Farm. It's the biggest all-Ford show on the West Coast, and it covers a large chunk of Knott's parking lot with Shelby Mustangs, Cougar Eliminators, original Broncos and Panteras. Edmunds had a booth at the show, and the long-term GT was parked next to it. The car still draws a crowd, though at this show that's not really surprising.
The 75-mile trip from Ventura County to Knott's in Orange County was the first chance to really try out the JVC's navigation system. It's fully functional now after installing an Alpine speed-pulse generator, and the system is as good -- or better -- than any factory system I've used. It has the bird's-eye view as well as the standard overview perspective, and you can customize elements like auto zoom and the gender of the voice guidance. With this working, plus the other features (Bluetooth, satellite radio, DVD audio/video, MP3, harddrive, etc.) the car makes covering ground pretty painless. Truly a GT.
Karl Brauer, Editor in Chief, Edmunds.com @ 8,120 miles
SubyTrojan says:
09:54 AM, 04/23/07
It would be cool if people who took photos of their kids next to the GT e-mailed them in and you could put them up on here. I never knew your license plate said "ENZO BTR" until yesterday! Perhaps you could find a way to temporarily mount it in the front of the vehicle for shows because a lot of people checking out the car never saw the plate. If your car doesn't have a name already, "The Showstopper" wouldn't hurt.
bbechtel16 says:
02:20 PM, 04/23/07
But will it really beat an Enzo?
SubyTrojan says:
02:52 PM, 04/23/07
BB, don't you know Karl is really The Stig?
editor_karl says:
06:49 PM, 04/23/07
It already beat "an Enzo." Four times in fact:
1966
1967
1968
1969
bbechtel16 says:
08:54 AM, 04/24/07
What about in 2005?
You're not "The Stig"...are you? I would find that hard to believe, as anti-American as Top Gear is.
SubyTrojan says:
09:21 AM, 04/24/07
BB, I know you're a young 'un so all is forgiven.
Those four years Karl threw up there were consecutive victories the Ford GT40 achieved at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
1966 - Bruce McLaren, Chris Amon
1967 - Dan Gurney, A.J. Foyt
1968 - Pedro Rodriguez, Lucien Bianchi
1969 - Jacky Ickx, Jackie Oliver
(thanks, Wikipedia)
No, Karl is not The Stig as far as I know. He's just his American cousin! j/k
What makes the Ford GT so great is the American racing heritage behind it. The Enzo itself (I'm not referring to the Ferrari brand) does not have any actual racing history or pedigree of any sort. Nowadays, Enzos are well know for being raced and/or crashed by guys named "Dieter" and "Undercover Brother." :o)
bbechtel16 says:
11:38 AM, 04/25/07
Haha, thanks for the info Suby. I assumed those years were some sort of important racing victories I'm too young to know anything about. Is the Enzo legal in any racing series? I'm pretty ignorant in regards to the racing scene...
SubyTrojan says:
03:34 PM, 04/25/07
I meant "well-known" in the previous entry's last paragraph. It's too late to edit it now. :shrug:
You're welcome, BB! I still think you should give up on getting an E91 wagon. Trust me, you would have a lot more fun with a 2008 Impreza WRX hatchback.
Anyway, to stop hijacking this entry, the Enzo is currently not campaigned in any racing series that I'm aware of. The current Ford GT will begin competing in the European FIA GT series (GT3 class) to continue the tradition so-to-speak.
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/04/23/more-on-the-ford-gt-entrant-to-gt3/
I wouldn't be surprised if we see it shortly in ALMS and Le Mans competition (1-2 years). The Prodrive Aston Martins aren't running the full ALMS season and the Chevrolet Corvette C6-Rs must be getting bored winning by default in the GT1 class.