Recommendations for US vacation around the 60th anniversary in July 24

Markus

SPRF40
Lifetime Supporter
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Markus

SPRF40
Lifetime Supporter
Fun fact:
There was also a piece of history linked to my home town in Germany > a model of the Zeppelin LZ-1-1
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The Zeppelin LZ-1 had its maiden flight in 1900 (note the yellow building).
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There is a modern interpretation of the Zeppelin called the Zeppelin NT, which is mainly used for tourist sightseeing flights > https://zeppelinflug.de/en/

We recently flew over Lake Constance (Bodensee).
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And here comes the fun fact > the factory in the picture is where I work and if you look closely you can see the yellow building you see in the picture above - the place where the maiden flight of the LZ-1 took place some 124 years ago......

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If you are in Southern Germany / Switzerland / Austria, be sure to visit our local museums (all in the Lake Constance area).
 

Rick Muck- Mark IV

GT40s Sponsor
Supporter
and luckily there have been also more cars at the Waterfront Car Cruise > https://pvgp.org/events/waterfront-car-cruise/
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Any Mustang experts around - I'm not familiar with VIN of G.T. 350? Was the one above an original?
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No, it would have a "Shelby American" tag riveted above the Ford VIN. Most clones have a repro SA tag, so this is really honest.
 

Randy Folsom

Supporter
Hello Folks,

Finally we are back in Germany and I found the time to sort out my pictures and want to give you some feedback on how our trip went.

First of all I would like to thank the following people:
- Everyone who replied to this thread and answered my questions.
- Certainly Rick Muck, his wife and his team who put the reunion together.
- All the people from the forum here that I got to meet in person during the event / reunion dinner like Chris Kuoba, Don, Tom (Cobrajet), Chris (KurbmeisterKlotz), Randy Folsom, Alan, Howard and a few more whose names I can't remember (sorry).
- Especially all the people who were at the Saturday dinner at the Firebirds Wood Fired Grill - I really enjoyed our conversations.
- All the vendors like Downforce, Hillbanks, Safir, Fran Kress, etc. who were there and presented their cars, parts, etc.
- Dennis Olthoff and team (he built my car in 2008) and also Merlin Pogson and his wife Cheryl who now represent https://legendary-racecars.com/.
- Fran Hall which took the time to give me a company tour (unreal).
- Also the team at PittRace who run the PVGP Historics.

As there is a lot of stuff to post I have to make several posts after this one.

Stay tuned,
Markus
Markus, It was nice to meet you. Hoping our paths cross again. Cheers, Randy
 

Markus

SPRF40
Lifetime Supporter
The "ZF" blimp, ties in with ZF being a participant in the reunion! Glad you enjoyed Pittsburgh, and we were pleased to have the "visit Pittsburgh" link on our page.
Hi Rick,

Absolutely - and the ZF headquarters are in my home town as well:D

Just to complete this pfa the contact of Mark Rotary which represented ZF NA at the Reunion - unfortunately it seems that inquiries need to to trough Germany which does not make it faster.... if anybody has other information, please let us know.
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Markus

SPRF40
Lifetime Supporter
Next stop was the Gilmore Car Museum, but we stopped for the night in Ford Wayne and continued on to Hickory Corners, MI.

This was also a great experience - if you are in the area this is also a must for a true car enthusiast ....
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Markus

SPRF40
Lifetime Supporter
Then we moved on to Detroit (Novi) until we returned to Germany.

We started with the Roush Collection > https://www.roushcollection.com/

As recommended on their website, you should call ahead and check if your visit is OK. We did not and there was a photo shoot going on. Fortunately, they were kind enough to let us in, but we had to promise not to "disturb" the photo shoot.

By the way, no admission...
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Randy Folsom

Supporter
I also stopped by the Gilmore Museum. Just amazing. I was fortunate to have arrived on a Wednesday. Every Wednesday evening during the summer they have live music, reasonable priced food and drink, and between 300 and 700 hundred cars show up. Bill at RCR told me about it. Can’t thank him enough for that good advice.
 
Fun fact:
There was also a piece of history linked to my home town in Germany > a model of the Zeppelin LZ-1-1
View attachment 141385

The Zeppelin LZ-1 had its maiden flight in 1900 (note the yellow building).
View attachment 141386

There is a modern interpretation of the Zeppelin called the Zeppelin NT, which is mainly used for tourist sightseeing flights > https://zeppelinflug.de/en/

We recently flew over Lake Constance (Bodensee).
View attachment 141387 View attachment 141388

And here comes the fun fact > the factory in the picture is where I work and if you look closely you can see the yellow building you see in the picture above - the place where the maiden flight of the LZ-1 took place some 124 years ago......

View attachment 141389

If you are in Southern Germany / Switzerland / Austria, be sure to visit our local museums (all in the Lake Constance area).
Hi Markus,

I went to the Dornier & Zeppelin museums a few years ago. Also had a tour of the NT hangar where they are assembled & stored. One day we had an evening meal in the Zeppelin restaurant too. Best of all we had a 45 minute trip in the Zeppelin NT.

We stayed at Hotel Gierer, Wasserburg am Bodensee. A great holiday, I'd like to visit the area again one day.
 

Rick Muck- Mark IV

GT40s Sponsor
Supporter
And the Ford "GN34 Mid-Engine Prototype", which I have never seen or heard of before - have you?

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Yes,

I was friends with the SVO Marketing manager and had a sort of inside track on the program. The budget that was to be for tooling was transferred to the Explorer program. While a big disappointment to enthusiasts, it was a great benefit to Ford shareholders as the Explorer was the best selling SIV in the US for many years and it made Ford a shit ton of money!
 

Rick Muck- Mark IV

GT40s Sponsor
Supporter
Yes,

I was friends with the SVO Marketing manager and had a sort of inside track on the program. The budget that was to be for tooling was transferred to the Explorer program. While a big disappointment to enthusiasts, it was a great benefit to Ford shareholders as the Explorer was the best selling SIV in the US for many years and it made Ford a shit ton of money!
The car at Roush is one of the "mules" for powertrain development and is not the actual design of the proposed production car. It was to be built in France by a subcontractor.
 

Markus

SPRF40
Lifetime Supporter
Hi Markus,

I went to the Dornier & Zeppelin museums a few years ago. Also had a tour of the NT hangar where they are assembled & stored. One day we had an evening meal in the Zeppelin restaurant too. Best of all we had a 45 minute trip in the Zeppelin NT.

We stayed at Hotel Gierer, Wasserburg am Bodensee. A great holiday, I'd like to visit the area again one day.
Hi Stephen,
happy to hear that you liked it - Wasserburg is really nice.
If you visit again, let me know and can meet for a beer or two;)
We are 2 hours from Stuttgart where the Mercedes and Porsche Museums are located....
 

Markus

SPRF40
Lifetime Supporter
The car at Roush is one of the "mules" for powertrain development and is not the actual design of the proposed production car. It was to be built in France by a subcontractor.
Yes that was obvious - the car looked really rough, which made it somehow cool on the other side....
 
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