But it’s still nasty.

On my way to Mishimoto I spotted a familiar shape out of the corner of my eye. I asked John to make a stop as he was driving me back home so I could take a closer look.

Now I have not seen many GT40’s in person and even fewer in the wild so I my eye was not keen enough to discern if this was the real deal. So I walked into the shop it was parked in front of to talk to the owner.

“It’s a replica.” The owner informed me with a smile. He was clearly proud of his work, and why shouldn’t he be? It was close enough to confuse me so he had done a great job. He informed me that wherever possible he used original parts and everything else was to spec. After getting his permission to take some pictures I popped back outside.

.

Replica or not I did not care. It was beautiful. The fact that the owner drove it to work frequently made it even better. John agreed.

Nothing is more shameful to me than a beautiful painting, or sculpture being hidden away in someones private collection. It should be on display for all to see, and doubly so for a car.

Even if just once a week, they should be in the sun so little kids can jump up and down with their minds blown in awe as it rumbles past.

Nothing is sadder than a car that rusts away in a barn or sits in a garage under a cover only to be pulled out once a year to be washed then tucked away.

Cars are not investments, they are not status symbols, nerdy idealizations of technology, they are grown man toys.

The public road is the living room carpet, and these cars are our Maisto 1:18 scale models.