In Search Of... The Perfect Ferrari 330 P4.... [PIC]

In the latter 1960s, I was absolutely captivated by the dueling Fords and Ferraris. It wasn't so much about the tech, rather it was the beauty of their sculptural body designs. The GT40 was sleek and muscular looking ready for battle. Ferrari's 330 P4 was almost feminine with its curvaceous body. The Exoto series of GT40 generations satisfied my desires for a 1/18 museum quality replica, but back in the day, it was Jouef that offered the 330P4 and its privateer brother, the 412P. Joef lavished a lot of detailing for the 1/43 and 1/24 models, but ironically, their 1/18s were, although accurate in shape and stance, were sadly lacking for a decent parts count. As I've posted prior, I tried to detail the hell out of them, but I still wished for a CMC or Exoto level replica. Unexpectedly, GMP offered such a model and I jumped on it. Well, in detail, fit and finish and parts count, it was all I could have hoped for. There was one aspect of this model that bothers me still... the ride height. I couldn't understand why the body rode so high you could almost stick your pinkie between the top of the tire and the wheel well. Various theories were offered including that the suspension could be raised for transport, but why model it that way? One of our collectors sought to lower the ride height, but I felt it too risky on such an expensive model. Ironically, it was Jouef that seemed to get it right. So, my solution was to display the GMP, disassembled next to the Jouefs so I could ignore the ride height and marvel at the detailing. Here's the GMP P4:

and here's the Jouef:

and now the GMP pics: