Factory Five Racing - $9,990 kits

[zeitgeist57]

From an email I got....

 

"1995 Prices Return for 10 Guys!

 

The other day, a customer of mine came in and gave me a copy of Kit Car Magazine from 1995. It was cool reading about what was popular back then, and as I flipped through the pages, I found one of our very first ads!

 

So here's a fun idea. When we launched the company, the original Mk1 Roadster was $9,900.

 

I'm selling ten (10) Mk4 Roadster kits for the original price of only $9,900!

 

If you missed out on building your Factory Five back in the day, here's your chance to zoom back in time and get yesterday's prices with today's latest Mk4 technology!

 

You can place your order online or call us at 508-291-3443. First come, first served.

 

Dave Smith"

 

 

That's a pretty damn good deal for a brand new Cobra kit car...I love FFR and would love to build one someday but that is so far down my list it's ridic. Maybe someone can take advantage of the offer.

[SpaceGhost]

I got this e-mail today too. So much want....

[BStowers023]

Fuck kinda wish I could have done this now. That's a deal

[DKilbourne]

Ummm.....let's go in on one together, sell, profit, hookers and blow to follow.

[caseyctsv]

Man I want to do this someday

[KentStateTsi]

Ended up looking at the 818. Didn't know the kit started under $10k. Never really been a fan of the EJ motors but did see that a 4 cylinder ecoboost option is in the works.

[Lauren]

10 kits for $9.900. Me thinks factory five needed a quick influx in cash flow

[SpaceGhost]

This mustang needs to rust faster.

[criitter7]

I kinda want the 818 coupe, but it doesn't look too safe or a quality designed car.

[Jelloman4571647545499]

I kinda want the 818 coupe, but it doesn't look too safe or a quality designed car.

 

I would love an 818C. I think it would be a blast to build and drive.

[Rustlestiltskin]

10 kits for $9.900. Me thinks factory five needed a quick influx in cash flow

http://i.imgur.com/fAz355W.gif

[Lauren]

Huh?

[BStowers023]

GIF makes no sense but I definitely laughed :lolguy:

[EssFo]

GIF makes no sense but I definitely laughed :lolguy:

 

As do 90% of his responses.

[Geeto67]

10 kits for $9.900. Me thinks factory five needed a quick influx in cash flow

 

actually they needed a quick influx of space. Last month they cleared out the inventory on Gen 2 Daytona coupes for a discount as well.

 

In the last couple years they have added a 289 FIA cobra, an 818 hardtop, and are now going to offer a Gen 3 daytona coupe road car and competition car. So that's three new models on top of the 5 cars they already offer (Gen 3 coupe road car is replacing 2 so it's a wash) and I don't think they have expanded their facility any so it is a reasonable assumption this promo is to clear space for new inventory.

 

As much as I love the cobra and lust for one badly, I have to say I think the most usable/versatile car they make is the 1933 hot rod. It has a real removable hardtop most people can fit in unlike the cobra. It can be an open wheel car or a full fendered daily driver. It has a really good suspension design and not old hot rod junk like leaf springs and solid axles. you can set it up to have a real trunk. because it is a 1933 ford skin on the car it appeals to a broad base and may be easier to resell later on. I'm actually surprised I don't see more of them around.

[SpaceGhost]

I fit just fine in a cobra.

[Geeto67]

I fit just fine in a cobra.

 

sure, with no roof. Personally I fit fine in a cobra as well (my left leg hits the bottom of the dash if I am wearing any shoe with a heel), but do you think you would still fit well in one with a top?

 

http://www.hallmark-cars.com/images/h3.jpg

 

 

if you are 6' or taller I would hazard a guess not.

 

I get that people who buy cobras really just want them for fair weather cars but that's kind of my point - the '33 doesn't have to be a fair weather car if you don't want it to be. Neither does the coupe, the RTM, and the 818. However, of those 4 the '33 is the only one that can become a roadster without a sawsall.

[BStowers023]

The coupe is sweet, but 95% of people who buy Cobra's are driving them in nice weather without a top.

[SpaceGhost]

Who the hell is daily driving a 65 Cobra replica in Ohio?

[Bam]

My dad has a MKI, built over 10 years ago. He finally bought a soft top for it last year, only so he could drive it to Texas and back for a road trip.

[Geeto67]

Who the hell is daily driving a 65 Cobra replica in Ohio?

 

Look for the guy whose nuts clank when when he walks.

 

 

On the other hand, it's a kitcar, don't be so precious. My father's friend Marty had a 289 cobra he drove year round in NYC in the 60's. Street parked it too sometimes.

 

If I had a FFR '33 ford, I'd drive it year round. Why not. Some pie crust snow tires and go for it.

[SpaceGhost]

Precious?

[Geeto67]

Precious?

 

I'm teasing a little. no harm intended.

 

I find it funny that people don't look at cobras as usable cars. The point of a kit cobra was because the real car was rare and expensive, a kit is an alternative to wrecking a real one when using it as intended.

 

In the 1970's my father was offered a real 427 street cobra by a friend of his who owned a gas station. The owner used it like a regular car (somewhere at my dad's house there is a pic of him pushing it out of a snowbank in Queens, I'll have to find it when I go home next week) and during the gas crunch he parked it at a corner of his station and just let it sit. The price he offered it to my father in 1977? $4800. Doesn't sound like a lot right? except at that time $4800 could have bought you a fully loaded brand new 1977 Buick (a cadillac was $7K). by the 1980's a cobra was a $30-40K car and a kit cobra was a $5K proposition.

 

The AC Bristol was a real car, not a toy. It was intended to be used as transport, albeit fun transport, and Stuffing a 289 and then a 427 into it as a steeet car didn't change that, so why should a replica change that?

 

If I had a cobra you bet your ass I would drive it daily. it's still a car, not some mythical haloed thing.

 

here is a pic of a real street cobra with it's top up. I know most cobras don't even have tops so people forget this was a car that was meant to be driven:

http://www.conceptcarz.com/images/Shelby/67-Shelby-Cobra-427-Street-DV-12-PBC_01.jpg

what's missing from this pic are the removable side curtains (think jeep wrangler soft top windows, not actual curtains).

 

and a 289 with the top up and side curtains installed:

http://www.conceptcarz.com/images/Shelby/65_Shelby_Cobra_289_CSX_8002_BY_05_Cinci_006.jpg

 

considering that most kit cobras have 302s or some other ford small block, how much different is this from driving a really drafty fox body convertible?