While searching for the right parts for the first assembly of the Valkyrie, I stopped by a small sports car accessory store to see about ordering a Momo Prototipo steering wheel. A few years earlier, a friend had taken delivery of a new 1973 455-SD Trans Am, and I really liked the flat 3-spoke steering wheel that car had. While discussing my Valkyrie project with the store owner, we got on the topic of how the Fiberfab Valkyrie looks similar to a Ford GT40. To increase that similarity, I asked if it would be possible to order headlights like the ones used in the GT40 race cars. I ended up buying two significant items from that small shop, a pair of Cibie rectangular H4 bulb type headingts, and a Momo Prototipo steering wheel.
It took a fair amount of fiberglass work to create a new mounting panel for the Cibie headlights that had unusually deep housings. If I mounted them on the same flange as the existing round light buckets were on, the front tires would contact the back of the Cibies whenever I made a turn. So I had to move the mounting point forward by about 2.5 inches. It was also necessary to flatten the “floor” of the headlight recess. Once I had the basic structure created and could test-mount the headlights, i rounded off the corners on the recess. I think the conversion turned out well. I’ve replaced the first set of Cibies after about 25 years when the interior chrome was no longer shiny. Thankfully there are enough GT40 replicas around to make these still readily available.
Next: The first major rebuild (1985)
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