Help a Good Guy

Factory Five for Sale by Keith Leduc

April 15, 2006

We don’t sell cars here at Factory Five, and we’re not going to start now… However, an FFR customer named Keith Leduc, from Dartmouth, MA asked for my help in selling his FFR roadster. Normally I wouldn't get involved, but there’s more to the story.  Let me start at the beginning.

About six years ago I was at Children’s Hospital in Boston with my daughter Jenny, who was hospitalized for an infection related to her Cystic Fibrosis illness.  It was late at night and I was working on some Factory Five business while Jenny slept.  Jenny’s nurse came in to administer her antibiotics and she noticed the FFR brochures and stuff that I was working on.  The nurses name was Liz Leduc and her husband was a certified car freak. 

She asked me some questions about the car and company.  As it turned out, we lived in the same town.  She told me that Keith (her husband) had just been diagnosed with Lou Gherigs disease or ALS.  This is a nasty and fatal disease that slowly paralyzes the person from the legs on up, until all ability to move is gone.  ALS victims usually survive 3-5 years past diagnosis and almost no-one survives.  Liz said that they were living the last years to the fullest and a Roadster was Keith's all-time favorite car.  I gave her an older postcard that I had in my stuff and promised to send along a video and brochure.  I also made a commitment to have Keith and her down to the factory shortly after Jenny got out of the hospital.

Liz went home in the morning (she worked 3^rd shift) and showed Keith the postcard, saying, “This is our next car!”

Three months later Keith and his buddies were building his FFR roadster.  The car would be finished and Keith would have a year or so of driving before losing leg function.  The car has sat since then in the garage. 

Today, Keith is not doing well.  He is in the final stages of ALS and cannot move anything but his head.  He is on a respirator and he called me to ask if I could help him sell his roadster. 

I said I would do my best and would put it on the FFR website.  Anyone who is interested in buying the car will have to call Keith directly (he has full-time help at home to take calls, etc).

Here are the details.

The car is a Mk1 roadster with a stock 5.0 engine (clean and low miles) and drivetrain.  The car is painted nicely with a royal blue, no stripes.  Interior is stock FFR with the older Stewart Warner gauges.  Wheels are PS engineering aluminum Halibrand style bolt-ons, and the car has silver powdercoated side pipes.  The car has maybe 3,000 miles on it, although the odometer is new and shows a couple hundred miles.

My guys looked at the car and it is an average donor-car build.  The car looks straight and there are no obvious flaws.  I have put some photos below for your interest. Keith is looking to sell the car because of his health concerns and hoping to get a reasonable $22-24 thousand (or best offer) for the car.

If you are interested in the car, please call Keith Leduc at 508-999-6510 between 3 PM and 9 PM every day.
 

Dave Smith

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