Breaking COVID-19 Quarantine in a 2020 Ford GT


lc2006

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Nov 10, 2011
140
Centreville, Delaware
After having lived through two months of the COVID-19 stay-at-home order, I could not take it any longer. Luckily for me, my good buddy – and expert Cobra restorer – Dave Wagner was climbing the walls at his house about as much as I was climbing mine.

Dave suggested that making the 600-mile drive out to his place in Northville, MI might be the perfect cure for my cabin fever. It took about two seconds for me to accept Dave's offer to visit! What I did not tell Dave, at least at first, was that I was going to toss my 2020 Ford GT into my trailer for the trip to MI.

While I was out at Dave's, we managed to get my GT over to some of the companies that had worked on the next gen Ford GT prototype... in particular, Special Projects, Inc. and Roush. Quite a few of the guys who had worked on the prototype had never seen a production GT up close -- let alone ever driven one! As you can see, in one of the photos, the folks at Roush are profoundly serious about social distancing -- although this didn't keep them from jumping into the very tight quarters of my GT in order to see just what the car can do!

L054 approached the 600-mile mark late one afternoon while I was out in MI. I was lucky enough to get my GT into the queue at Pat Milliken Ford for early the very next morning… thanks to Vaughn Koshkarian and his son, Kevin. Expert GT Tech, Joe Sicoli, was wonderful with my GT! He and Jason handled the oil change and a minor rattle that had developed deep in the passenger side dash. The "bad news" is that Joe and the guys at Milliken were so impressive, that I am probably going to drag L054 600 miles out to Milliken Ford for all of its maintenance/warranty work.

We stopped by Rich Brooks’ place. Rich had lots of GTs in his shop; and no shortage interesting of stories, either!

Naturally, we also stopped in to see what Dave B. was up to. As usual, Dave has lots of very cool cars inside of his top-notch facility.

I have pasted a link, below, to some of the photos that I shot while I was in MI. I am certainly not a great photographer, but some of the photos are not too bad.

You will notice that there are a few photos of L054 at Ford's World HQ building. Although the sun was in a terrible position during the time of our visit, I did manage to take a few photos before the security department pounced upon me and Dave and told us that we were not welcome on Ford property. We were invited to leave the property immediately, if not sooner, which led me to believe that perhaps the payment check for my GT might have bounced!

It was wonderful to get out of the house for a week. About 600 miles were added to L054’s odometer while I was out in MI. Unfortunately for me, I was at the steering wheel for only about 50 of those 600 miles. This means that other people have put more miles on my GT than I have!


WHQ 1.jpg
 
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partssmann

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jun 1, 2013
771
Scottsdale, Arizona
Thanks for sharing the photos. We all have cabin fever. Looks like a fun outing and good to see some familiar photo backgrounds.
 

mmlcobra

GT Owner
May 25, 2013
1,223
Very cool!
Thanks for sharing.
Mark
 
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Simon

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Feb 19, 2013
1,265
Houston
Great post!
 
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Special K

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Aug 23, 2016
1,781
Franklinton, LA
Fun Fun Fun!!! I can’t wait to put some miles on with other NFGTs!!
 
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07XL0027

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
May 20, 2012
1,575
Austin TX
After having lived through two months of the COVID-19 stay-at-home order, I could not take it any longer. Luckily for me, my good buddy – and expert Cobra restorer – Dave Wagner was climbing the walls at his house about as much as I was climbing mine.

Dave suggested that making the 600-mile drive out to his place in Northville, MI might be the perfect cure for my cabin fever. It took about two seconds for me to accept Dave's offer to visit! What I did not tell Dave, at least at first, was that I was going to toss my 2020 Ford GT into my trailer for the trip to MI.

While I was out at Dave's, we managed to get my GT over to some of the companies that had worked on the next gen Ford GT prototype... in particular, Special Projects, Inc. and Roush. Quite a few of the guys who had worked on the prototype had never seen a production GT up close -- let alone ever driven one! As you can see, in one of the photos, the folks at Roush are profoundly serious about social distancing -- although this didn't keep them from jumping into the very tight quarters of my GT in order to see just what the car can do!

L054 approached the 600-mile mark late one afternoon while I was out in MI. I was lucky enough to get my GT into the queue at Pat Milliken Ford for early the very next morning… thanks to Vaughn Koshkarian and his son, Kevin. Expert GT Tech, Joe Sicoli, was wonderful with my GT! He and Jason handled the oil change and a minor rattle that had developed deep in the passenger side dash. The "bad news" is that Joe and the guys at Milliken were so impressive, that I am probably going to drag L054 600 miles out to Milliken Ford for all of its maintenance/warranty work.

We stopped by Rich Brooks’ place. Rich had lots of GTs in his shop; and no shortage interesting of stories, either!

Naturally, we also stopped in to see what Dave B. was up to. As usual, Dave has lots of very cool cars inside of his top-notch facility.

I have pasted a link, below, to some of the photos that I shot while I was in MI. I am certainly not a great photographer, but some of the photos are not too bad.

You will notice that there are a few photos of L054 at Ford's World HQ building. Although the sun was in a terrible position during the time of our visit, I did manage to take a few photos before the security department pounced upon me and Dave and told us that we were not welcome on Ford property. We were invited to leave the property immediately, if not sooner, which led me to believe that perhaps the payment check for my GT might have bounced!

It was wonderful to get out of the house for a week. About 600 miles were added to L054’s odometer while I was out in MI. Unfortunately for me, I was at the steering wheel for only about 50 of those 600 miles. This means that other people have put more miles on my GT than I have!


View attachment 60377
Great pics. I’m pretty sure that’s my blue 05 in Rich’s shop. Thanks for the “proof of life” photo Lee.
 
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lc2006

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Nov 10, 2011
140
Centreville, Delaware
Great pics. I’m pretty sure that’s my blue 05 in Rich’s shop. Thanks for the “proof of life” photo Lee.
It very well may have been your car. There were two great-looking blue/white GTs in the shop while I was there.
 

Sinovac

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 18, 2006
5,862
Largo, Florida
That was a fun read. Dave Wagner does really nice work. I'd love to have one of his 427 Kirkham cars.
 
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07XL0027

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
May 20, 2012
1,575
Austin TX
It very well may have been your car. There were two great-looking blue/white GTs in the shop while I was there.
If I would have known you were going to Rich’s shop, I would have had you hold that day’s newspaper next to my vin and take a picture.
 

lc2006

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Nov 10, 2011
140
Centreville, Delaware
That was a fun read. Dave Wagner does really nice work. I'd love to have one of his 427 Kirkham cars.
The guy driving this Cobra loves Dave's Cobra's, too. Dave thought that he had built this one for himself... until Jay saw it, that is!

Dave's restorations of original Cobras are the best. His replicas are virtually indistinguishable from the real McCoy. Jay says that the only difference is that Dave's replicas don't rattle as much as the original cars!Image 4-24-20 at 3_07 PM.JPG
 
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dbk

Admin
Staff member
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jul 30, 2005
15,242
Metro Detroit
Thanks for stopping by Lee. Your car is stunningly gorgeous in person and looks killer going down the road.
 

lc2006

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Nov 10, 2011
140
Centreville, Delaware
Thanks for stopping by Lee. Your car is stunningly gorgeous in person and looks killer going down the road.
It's always nice to catch-up with you, Dave.

Unfortunately, I know that my car looks killer going down the road... I frequently see one, or both, of my daughters driving off in it!!!
 

roketman

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Oct 24, 2005
8,086
ma.
Thanks for sharing! Dbk's garage is always something to behold as is Rich Brooks garage /shop!
 
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Austinj427

Well-known member
Feb 12, 2018
61
Colorado
I love your stories.

Also, the color of your car is absolutely perfect in my opinion.
 
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Stef

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Apr 5, 2009
1,111
Southern California
Great story and what awesome time.
I agree with others the color you chose is perfect in every way.
Very very nice!
 
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Ed Sims

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Apr 7, 2006
7,922
NorCal
What a fun road trip lc2006! I like your color too!

Ed
 
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lc2006

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Nov 10, 2011
140
Centreville, Delaware
I love your stories.

Also, the color of your car is absolutely perfect in my opinion.
Thank you for your kind words! The color is growing on me!
 
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lc2006

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Nov 10, 2011
140
Centreville, Delaware
Great story and what awesome time.
I agree with others the color you chose is perfect in every way.
Very very nice!
We had a blast when I was out in MI! It really was an awesome time... sometimes, I have to pinch myself!
GTs look great in every color. In my case, I got lucky; the Highland Green, silver, and carbon fiber seem to all work quite well together.
 
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lc2006

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Nov 10, 2011
140
Centreville, Delaware
What a fun road trip lc2006! I like your color too!

Ed
Thanks, Ed! I get to the Bay area at least a couple of times a year. Perhaps we could meet-up, if you are in that region... I would love to see your GT.
Cheers,
Lee
 
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Ed Sims

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Apr 7, 2006
7,922
NorCal
Thanks, Ed! I get to the Bay area at least a couple of times a year. Perhaps we could meet-up, if you are in that region... I would love to see your GT.
Cheers,
Lee
Let me know when you are here & we'll meet up at Adam Simms' place with 6+ NGTs

Ed