A Friend's Factory V roadster build

Look what pulled into our parking lot at work today:

a freshly built Factory V Roadster. My friend Dave that works upstairs just put this on the road a couple weeks ago. He did the build school first then it only took him a couple months to build the car to where it is now. Really impressively quick work. It's still in the gel coat with exposed body seams and I am actually unreasonably in love with how it looks like that. All work and no play.

He used a '95 Mustang donor and the engine is a mix of '93 and '95 parts with an E303 cam. He's got the stock headers on it flipped side-side right now but they go to a short down pipe and to the big nasty side pipes. Sounds awesome and has enough power to break the 315's loose in 1st and 2nd gear.

Nice big Willwood breaks front and rear and some really pretty wheels.

He's going to put a Ford Racing engine in it eventually but for now he's put a few hundred miles on this engine and is enjoying it. I love the car, and the build quality is amazing for a kit. Kudos to both FFR and Dave on that.

I hadn't realized how bad the bodies were on those. The only one's I've played with have already had the seams ground down.

I can't remember ever seeing a kit car that looks that bad and I can remember back to the 60's with lots of really weird kits.

Sorry, I've had so many Cobras that I don't drool anymore, I look at the details because that's what separates them.

I'm sure your friend is extremely proud and happy. I know I always was.

FFR doesnt intend that to be finished condition on the body. That is pre-paint, pre-bodywork.

Just out of curiosity, are the jacking hooks on the front and back real or just for show?

Awesome. There's a spot for an FFR on my Some Day list.

Best question of the day pertains to that guy's license plate.......that ohio vanity plate used to belong to a remote turbo powered black 98-02 trans am. You should find out if that t/a was his, or find out how long he has had that tag....

carguy123 wrote: Sorry, I've had so many Cobras that I don't drool anymore, I look at the details because that's what separates them.

Having owned an FFR Cobra for almost 5 years and hosting many Cobra shows (we used to get 45-50 Cobras), I liked to look at the details too. Each car was unique.

It's been about 4 years since I sold mine, and I still drool over Cobras. I will have another FFR someday...

carguy123 wrote: I hadn't realized how bad the bodies were on those. The only one's I've played with have already had the seams ground down. I can't remember ever seeing a kit car that looks that bad and I can remember back to the 60's with lots of really weird kits.

You do know that's not done, right? It's basically straight off the mold and bolted on so he can drive it while there's season left to drive in then he'll get it prepped and painted when it's off the road for the winter season.

@alfadriver: The jacking hooks can be used to pick up the car.

@yamaha: I'll have to check with him! I know he's had some pretty wild cars and used to have an auto shop so it's not unlikely that he had the trans am. Did you know him or just the car?

I want to put jacking hooks on something totally wrong, like a Sedona van or something.

In reply to dculberson:

If he indeed had the t/a, I had met him once at muncie dragway years ago. I think he was still working on tuning it then......I remember it sounded like a jet....

I realize that's not a finished body, but I've never seen any type of kit car with that prominent of mold marks and it appears there's even some mismatching of the molds.

There were some close ups of the 818 but I presumed those issues were due to the pre-release nature of the body, but by this time they've had plenty of time to refine the Cobra molds.

Well, when they're finished they can look quite nice. That's all I know. They're not made to be the overly-finished, car show play things though, they're made to be driven and raced so perhaps they spend more time on the chassis than making the molds perfect. And like I said, I like the rough seams on this one and if it was mine I would drive it like that for a while. Mad max cobra!!

The red bodies are a lot nicer than the old black bodies. This one looks really good compared to how mine (#6385 from 2007) started.

Quick jacks aren't functional, only for looks. They're just 7/16" bolts & spacers bolted to some 1/16" sheet.

Great looking car!

Joe

My mistake if the quick jacks aren't good for picking up the car, I did not ask and was going from memory from the FFR site but probably recalled wrong.

Oh, carguy123: one reason we might be differing here, is that low resolution digital pictures can either hide or accentuate flaws on a vehicle. They usually hide flaws, but in this case it's likely that they're accentuating them. You can not tell the true fit and finish from something from an 800x600 shot taken at a distance, it's just not possible. Having seen it in person it's not as bad as you seem to think.

Love it. But I'm not picky, or a car snob. I just love cobras.

dculberson wrote: Oh, carguy123: one reason we might be differing here, is that low resolution digital pictures can either hide or accentuate flaws on a vehicle. They usually hide flaws, but in this case it's likely that they're accentuating them. You can not tell the true fit and finish from something from an 800x600 shot taken at a distance, it's just not possible. Having seen it in person it's not as bad as you seem to think.

Well, you've seen it, I haven't.

Looks good at 20-20.

In reply to dculberson:

That looks friggin awesome. Great, now I want a FF again, just when I thought I'd kicked that disease.

I would be totally stoked to roll into work in that!

Carguy, contained in [this thread] is a good example of what to do after dumping on somebody's happy thread like an shiny happy person. Just look for my posts. You're welcome.

An FFR has been on my bucket list since I was 22. Love the look, the sound, and just everything about them. I've been to FFR many times (at the Open Houses), and even did the 3 hour ride to/from in an FFR Cobra one year. Still hooked on them, and the community over on FFcars.com used to be incredible (haven't lurked over there in years).

Whats the normal cost of one? Better to buy one built or build your own? Or is it blaspheme to say that

I have always loved the FFR Cobra but I think I like the 33 Hot Rod even better!

65 Coupe > all other factory five cars

dculberson,

I met your friend Dave and his car at the London (Ohio) Cobra Show earlier this summer. Talked to him a few times over the weekend. We discussed his future plans for the car after he gets done with some shakedown miles---good guy and he did a really quick build!

I'm starting on my third FFR roadster right now. I built a Mk4 for a customer last year and detailed some parts of the build here if you guys with an interest Factory Five care to take a look:

FFR Mk4 roadster build

Carguy, probably not much I can tell you about the body since you seem to know all about it already, or at least think you do, but just the same maybe you'll find something interesting or even educational in this thread that I did documenting the body prep and paint:

FFR Mk4 roadster body prep and paint

Cheers, Jeff

To me, these cars simply look the business in black, more than almost any other car. I also like the fairly discrete take on side pipes done here. If I'm honest I prefer "normal" exhaust on these cars but you get the idea;

http://www.autoblog.com/photos/shelby-cobras-at-the-pebble-beach-2012/#photo-5220371