Own GRM Royalty: Our Factory Five 818 Is for Sale

Kreb said:

If you want to stay longitudinal, length may be an issue. There are few motors short of an inline 3 cylinder that are any shorter than a Subbie.

Clearly it needs a 13b. :)

One of these showed up a the drag strip last Friday. Stock WRX engine. He drove there, ran 13 low's without trying hard, drove back. Sounded like it was a blast to build and drive, though he did say it's a pretty raw driving experience on the road. 

pimpm3 said:

I just don't get the appeal when 20 to 30k will buy a nice used Cayman or boxster.  Personally I find the exocet a more appealing kit car option.

Or c5 Zo6

codrus said:

Kreb said:

If you want to stay longitudinal, length may be an issue. There are few motors short of an inline 3 cylinder that are any shorter than a Subbie.

Clearly it needs a 13b. :)

 

20B?

Before we write it off as a failure, does anyone know how many kits have actually been supplied?

I was pretty excited about the 818 when it came out, but I think the main issue is that it is too much money to spend on a toy that probably can't also be used as a DD.  Like others have said, a used Boxster, Cayman, etc. can do double duty as the fun toy AND the DD for the same price. If you want a dedicated second fun/toy car for cheaper, I think that the DF Kit car has the right idea.

http://dfkitcar.com/

Saw a Factory Five Cobra Daytona.  Nice and almost somewhat practical car.

I give kudos to FF for putting the effort in to produce it. 

I think the thing with any of these car types has to be a link to something iconic/powerful in the mind, performs really well, and priced better than a suitable alternative. 

Thus, Cobra ~ $25k and up.   The next best thing is an FM v8 Miata, but I'd be willing to bet more FF Cobras are built every year than v8 Miatas.

I'd love to do something 15-1700lb small bore roaster, but there are no small bore roasters that cling to the mind in the manner a Cobra does except what used to be the Beck  spyder and various Porsche Speedster/356 kits.

And those provided the experience at a fraction of the cost. 

For prices involved in getting a good kit (which, FF is not "kit" to me, they just do so much better a job than what "kit" connotes...), you can hop up a Miata, BRZ, older Vette, etc.... and get the amped up driving experience. 

It'd be fun to see FF do something that uses Miata running gear, a 50s/early 60s sports racing car type body (like the D-type Jags, Ferrari Mondials and Monzas, Aston DBRs, etc) but for the cost to put something  out, you can buy a worn out NA, throw all the goodies at it, and get the same driving experience. 

I'd like to think the kicker, and what would push somebody over the edge, is one of those sexy 50s sports racer type body styles.  Get some of those aluminum wheels that look like steelies from the era or deep dish Panasports and you're cooking. 

Still, they made the 818, and it's got no historical equivalent. 

Again, I say good on 'em.

One other thing - the 818s lifespan has coincided with a  deepening arms race in the area of track cars. 15 years ago my Stalker V6 with a pushrod 3.4 was among the fastest several guys at any track day that I ran. Now that car would be significantly further back in the pack unless I were to throw an LSX on it. Some guys bought 818s thinking that they were buying a low-budget supercar, when they were getting a very fast car - but not super and subject to kit car peccadillos. They're taking them to time trial track days and getting disappointing results.   

The irony is that most Cobra replicas aren't all that fast either, but they aren't getting bought to be world beaters - just really fast heritage cars.

None of this changes the fact that they're pretty great, even bitchin' cars. Any shortcomings are more the result of expectations than anything. I'd gladly welcome one to my garage.

I've always liked kit cars.  I built a Beck Lister and then did a few of my own cars, Including a Cobra replica.

  I've decided that I'm going to offer a kit for the car that I'm close to finishing.  Inspired by the 1963 Cheetah my car uses a dedicated space frame, MGB windshield, C4 Corvette suspension and a SBC or LS engine.  With a 93 inch wheelbase it can weigh as little as 1750LBS.  My car has a SBC with iron heads.  It weighs 1840lbs. 

Right now my car is not painted.  It's in the white gel coat.  I laid out a few stripe ideas using duct tape.  Here's one.

I'm not advertising now or taking orders.  I'm going to have the car painted in Sept and some upholstery work done. Then I'll advertise it here. I have no idea if there will be any demand for my car.  I built the car the way I wanted and am doing this for fun. 

Have F5 tried selling this kit in Europe, or especially the UK?  The UK kit car scene is massive, and a well finished, well designed car should do, err, well over there!

I followed along during the development of this car. I was really excited about the prospect, but disappointed in the end result. I really feel with all the advanced capabilities that FFR has they should not have some of the simple fitment problems body and frame that they do.

I used to spend a lot of time on their forum as I am a big fan of their products. I just went back yesterday afternoon to ask if there had been any recent news from FFR, and how many they have sold. I didn't get one reply. 

mainlandboy said:

I was pretty excited about the 818 when it came out, but I think the main issue is that it is too much money to spend on a toy that probably can't also be used as a DD.  Like others have said, a used Boxster, Cayman, etc. can do double duty as the fun toy AND the DD for the same price. If you want a dedicated second fun/toy car for cheaper, I think that the DF Kit car has the right idea.

http://dfkitcar.com/

 

I think there's a build thread for the first goblin right here on grm

mainlandboy said:

I was pretty excited about the 818 when it came out, but I think the main issue is that it is too much money to spend on a toy that probably can't also be used as a DD.  Like others have said, a used Boxster, Cayman, etc. can do double duty as the fun toy AND the DD for the same price. If you want a dedicated second fun/toy car for cheaper, I think that the DF Kit car has the right idea.

http://dfkitcar.com/

 

I agree. It can't be used as a part-time DD in much of the country, because it doesn't have a top (and also, to a lesser impact, it doesn't have a trunk). 

I had the hots for the 818 back when GRM was building theirs, but I ended up spending all my money on the RS, and I'm glad I did.  Everyday practicality combined with scorching performance.

jmc14 said:

I've always liked kit cars.  I built a Beck Lister and then did a few of my own cars, Including a Cobra replica.

  I've decided that I'm going to offer a kit for the car that I'm close to finishing.  Inspired by the 1963 Cheetah my car uses a dedicated space frame, MGB windshield, C4 Corvette suspension and a SBC or LS engine.  With a 93 inch wheelbase it can weigh as little as 1750LBS.  My car has a SBC with iron heads.  It weighs 1840lbs. 

Right now my car is not painted.  It's in the white gel coat.  I laid out a few stripe ideas using duct tape.  Here's one.

I'm not advertising now or taking orders.  I'm going to have the car painted in Sept and some upholstery work done. Then I'll advertise it here. I have no idea if there will be any demand for my car.  I built the car the way I wanted and am doing this for fun. 

I have always like the cheetah, and honestly in convertible form it gives off the 50's custom sports racer vibe that somebody mentioned. I think it would be fun to put a high hp 4 cylinder in one.

jmc14 said:

It BADLY  needs some smaller diameter period looking wheels.

Adrian_Thompson said:

jmc14 said:

It BADLY  needs some smaller diameter period looking wheels.

 

I don't know that I agree or not, I kind of like it, but I know there's a SBC in it.  If it was a 4-cyl job, I'd have a different opinion.  Strange, right?

When I saw that you could put SUs on a Miata motor with relative ease, my mind went racing back to FFR doing a Miata based small bore sports racer homage to cars of the era, since they did the 818, and the engine bay could look period correct!

But that's when I thought the 818 was a pure FFR design concept; turns out it's related to the Lotus 2 Eleven, which I guess is an Exige based car (which, to my mind, is still too modern anyway).

Sigh.

The Cheetah is a pretty big car. I think that the suspension is Corvette based.  A 4-cylinder would be OK - especially if it's got a honking turbo on it, but to me that car deserves something with clout.