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Customer Profile – Michael Kadie FFR 1000268 CP, San Diego, CA forum handle: KD email: kd_motor@kd.dynip.com |
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| We love having a V8 powerplant in our Factory Fives. The throttle response, the pull of good solid torque, the thrill of horsepower winding up to high speed, the rumble at idle to the roar at 5000rpm, and the rush of high-test fuel coursing through our veins. | |
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Michael Kadie, on the other hand, is not like us. Sure, his heart gets a-thumpin’ when he climbs into the cockpit of his FFR Type 65 Coupe, but he prefers to sneak up on the other street racers. |
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Michael, we’ve learned, is on the leading edge of electric technology, and even though he has always had a passion for vintage American muscle cars, his heart pumps out hydrocarbons and current. Set the way-back machine to the mid-eighties, and while we were lamenting lame fuel economy driven car designs, and the God forsaken K-cars, Michael was energized. He couldn’t get enough of the news of new electric motor technology. He would daydream of the day when an electric powered muscle car could pull anything on the road, and still achieve fuel consumption levels in triple digits. |
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Fast forwarding back to 2005 and he finds himself with money and time overlapping (a rare occurrence for the American male toy collecting species). Further, battery technology had taken the final steps needed for Michael to realize his dream. Rather than tear apart a vintage muscle car, and assume all of the baggage of 60s technology, he decided on the alternative direction of a component car. A kit offered him the best of both worlds - new technology covered with a vintage skin, and the opportunity to modify the frame from the get-go. |
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From there, the choice was easy. Factory Five had, in his opinion, the equivalent of the top three criteria. First, the FFR Type 65 Coupe was undeniably one of the most beautiful cars on earth. Second, Factory Five was the largest manufacturer, and used cutting edge technology, and finally, the FFROG community seemed to be the happiest customer group on the planet. Transforming a car designed around a standard V8 to be electrically powered, however, was no small feat. The process started with hours of thought, weeks of brainwork, and measurement upon measurement until Michael’s tape measure was worn out. The Factory Five frame was finally cut into four pieces, and several unique brackets were created to mount the equipment. |
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The equipment included an 11" electric motor (it somehow just doesn’t inspire the vroom! that most people pretend to do when sitting in their project chassis’), state of the art batteries and a controller that the Mars rover would envy. Michael hasn’t had a chance to get the car onto a dyno for testing, so there’ no realistic way to determine how much horsepower and torque he’s running, but he is pleased nonetheless. “I was modeling my numbers based on a 0-60 of 2.9 that I saw listed for a gas version of the car. I don't know what side of that number I will end up on, but I look forward to finding out” he gushed in a recent conversation. |
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He is still working towards getting the car set up to handle 500kw (650 hp) of power in from the batteries, but doesn’t know yet how that will translate to efficiency at the wheels (he’s hoping for 300 hp at the wheels). In addition, his torque numbers were “guesstimated” to reach 600 ft/lbs into the differential. “What I know for sure is that at 10% power it is fun to drive and 18% it chirps the tires”. What we know for sure is that this is certainly one of the most unique Factory Five’s we’ve seen, and considering the uniqueness of every FFR, that is saying a lot. |
| For more photos on Michael’s build, go to his build site. | |
