A special note to Forum guys: 

 

You guys are the best!  The forum is a huge family of sorts and I am grateful for the friendship and support of so many of you guys.  I was hugely entertained and impressed by your ideas and speculations about this announcement. 

 

A good CEO has what they call “Strategic Vision”.  I prefer to think of this as knowing at the very core level what you do as a company and what makes you special.

 

This morning I was reminded yet again of why FFR has succeeded and what makes this company special.  While there are a myriad of reasons why we commonly outflank our kit car bretheren, things like
engineering, performance, value, fun, passion, caring and committed staff, better products, etc. (I could go on)…  the largest reason is more basic… You.
 

The core reason for our success is the FFR community.  Our customers have been the driving force behind many product changes, improvements and innovations.  The GTM was designed alongside constant customer feedback from the forums and guys visiting.  We’ve never trusted the general public for focus group studies and the like, rather we have listened closely to the FFR guys who have built and who are building our products.

 

I am on the board of a new start-up automotive company, run by a Harvard MBA and backed by some serious investors and hedge fund guys (these guys don’t start investing until 25M).  At the core of their strategy is to try and leverage the ideas and creativity of customers via the internet w/r2 automotive design.  Our company and FFR community was the model that partly inspired this!

 

With all that in mind, I have decided to continue to trust the wisdom, council and feedback of the FFR faithful.  You guys steered us straight on the GTM and together we launched a car that just kicked the teeth out of a Ferrari Enzo… And it’s 100% American made Supercar.  So rather than spoon feed you carefully worded press releases at given intervals, lets roll back the curtain and continue the conversation about this community of ours and the impact this company can have on it.

 

The truth is, many of you know or can guess at the projects that lie ahead.  There were some guesses that were wrong, and before we talk more, I should straighten those out.

 

Projects we are not working on…

 

  • Shelby endorsement of any kind
  • FFR Credit card (we have enough challenges).
  • Mr. Fusion, Jim in engineering has failed three times straight getting the damn flux capacitor on-line.  He did succeed in going back in time and taking the Volare remake kit and the Smokey and the Bandit kit off our 1999 project launch plan…
  • IPO.  Or a private sale of any kind.  Not selling.  My brother and I love our jobs and would be happy to be doing this in 30 years.
  • Sale:  No specials on the new base kit and complete kit. And at the prices and content we’re adding, those may be a thing of the past. As the GTM ramps up, we are not going to want to make the volume we’ve made in the past.  If we do a sale in the future, it will likely be focused at the guy building on a budget (wing-man thingy).
  • GT40:  Well there’s this little car called a GTM that just spanked an Enzo… so we’ll have to leave the Supercar category box checked.  Besides, I purchased a CAV GT40 years ago before we did the GTM and while I loved the looks, it was not, and never will be a tenable product due to inherent limitations.
  • Boat/Planes:  Mark is actually on a decades long schedule that allows a merger of work and play. I wouldn’t bet on a boat in the near future… It is, however, cool to see him fitting his twin 750 hp (ea!) turbo diesels into his 50’ “prototype” offshore boat!
  • Bike:  My brother Mark has designed a really cool bike.  Seriously he has.  The future though of that project is completely up in the air and I happen to know he is afraid of needles, so he may not be able to get past the 15 tattoo minimum in the business.
  • Useful build manual:  We sorta figured you forum guys were taking care of that.., oh yeah, and the build school.  Seriously, we’re working on it but it is not a major project.
  • 250 Ferrari:  I don’t want to make any more replicas.  For a while there back a few years I had my head up me arse and actually thought we would want to do a 250 (we own the molds from the old Contemporary Cobra* company and they had one ready).  When I drove the all-American GTM with the monster LS7 I realized I don’t want any Italian sports car replicas.  Not today, not ever.
  • Aluminum Body:  Still rumor.  It’s not 100% off the table (just 99.999999%).
  • Cheetah Kit:  In New England vernacular “Cheetah” is actually the word “Cheater”. Something we don’t do.  Apologies to esteemed Mr. Totten.

 

What does that leave? Plenty.

Here is a short summary of each of the programs and projects we are working on.  While the over-all direction is not likely to change, the specifics in many cases are open to modification and I look forward to the candid advice.
 
 

Complete Kits, Mk3, Coupe, GTM: 

The complexity of the complete kit roadster project was so much more than meets the eye.  Jesper in engineering and many others have worked for about a year and a half on this project.  The parts involved, the regulatory effect, the sheer size, space and financial impact of this offering has virtually doubled our company efforts.  We could’ve done this on the cheap and matched what some other companies are doing, but we wanted to do it better, and it was larger in scope than the announcement would have you think.

 

The complete kit project announced affects the roadster, but shortly it will encompass the remainder of the FFR kits.  It’s effect is also changing the way we function in everything from the order desk to the outgoing shipping dept.  We will always provide a base kit for the models mentioned, that will be donor car capable (little changed in concept from today) kit.

 

If you visit the factory today you will see Home Depot style racks and a mind boggling array of inventory items… and that is only the visible signs of this project. 

 

The plan is to be ship ready with the complete kits the day after labor day, and then to apply the same boiler plate formula to the Coupe and GTM (with minor changes and upgrades where it matters to the Challenge car).

 

Integral to this work are small projects that are underway such as the GTM transaxle sourcing and development to support and augment this over-all “complete kit” focus.

 

At the end of the day, all of these projects should be well underway or completed by years end, with the GTM being the last.
 
 

289 Competition, slab-side, and 427:

 

When Dick Smith died we had already reached an agreement whereby FFR would digitize and use the famous #198 for future FFR roadsters in an upcoming Mk4 version.  Dick had leaked this in a SAAC newsletter shortly before he was killed.  We hadn’t (and I still have not) decided if this would be an optional special edition body, or supplant the current FFR 427 shape.

 

After he died I really didn’t want to think about business and the project.  As the dust settled I spoke to Heather (Dick’s wife).  We agreed that we should go forward with what we had originally planned.  Heather said it best, “Dick loved you guys and would want you to go ahead”.

 

Dick’s car is out east here and Heather is learning to drive the FFR Coupe that was to be driven by her and Dick on road trips in California. 

 

Unbeknownst to many of you, we purchased a really accurate 289 and slab side 289 mold that was formed and mounted on a Mk3 FFR chassis (Bruce C.). 

 

We will launch three new bodies for the FFR Mk3 kit in 2008. 

 

Exact digitized version of #198

Exact copy of a 289 roadster (competition and Slab Side)

 

Here’s something many of you may not know.

 

Years ago we bought the original molds and tools (as part of our purchase of the old contemporary company) for the Contemporary Cobra*.  Their car was made directly from an original 427 (I think CSX 3040-45 range.. I am not sure).  We have that body and mold, but we long ago decided against using it because it was so close to our own, and it was someone else’s kit (Karma thingy here). 

 

The decision to use Dick Smiths car is totally different.  The thing about Dicks CSX3035 is that it is the winningest 427 car of all time, it holds the highest verified speed of any Cobra* (198 mph), and it was owned and driven by Dick Smith, one of the greatest men I have ever known.  Having his shape as father of future FFR’s is fitting, and it matches our commitment to racing.

 

Materials are up in the air at this point.  We have worked with aluminum before and unless there is a radical change (like Superform/hydroformed panels ala Panoz) the likely path will be composites, but improved processes. 

 

There are no more details available than that. 

 

Mecca:

I hope typing that word doesn’t land me on a terrorist watch group list.  The dream of building Mecca, or the ultimate facility is alive and well. 

 

We are working with Rhode Island School of Design on a brand new facility.  But to say it’s planned to be a bigger manufacturing facility would be so incorrect.  We are seeking to build an automotive mecca in New England.
 

In 2000 we had 12,000 sq ft and 40,000 sq feet was a dream… Today we are literally stacked up with no more room!
 

We obviously need to expand, so a bigger plant is first and foremeost what is needed.  We also though, need to accommodate a museum, separate molding/composites shop, 5 acres of pavement and permitting for weekend SCCA autocrosses and owners events and car shows, and more.  We currently race shifter carts around our parking lot here! 

 

We want to build a headquarters that focuses on the experience of FFR, the cars, the people, the lifestyle.  It will likely remain in New England, but the focus is to build a destination where people can come for fun and drive our cars in a safe, closed course environment.

 

We have identified several sites locally to do this and are working with state, county, and local politburos for feasibility.  Expect 2009 to 2010.
 

Larry:

 

The last year has seen a flurry of activity move from GTM molds and shaping over to a new project I like to call "Larry".  Jim has been on vacation, so I’m going to leave you with only a small clue about this ambitious project.  I will also ask Jim to publish a summary in the coming months to you guys on the forum for feedback and ideas.  I can tell you the quality of thought that went into the GTM is evident in this new project.

 

This is not a 32 Ford.  Launch date is almost impossibly set for January 1, 2008.  Stay tuned, Still waters run deep my friends. Yeah.. 375’s.

 

There are two other strong projects that you guys actually guessed on the forum posts.  I won’t get into them here, but one is a fun marketing project and the other is related to the Harvard MBA guy start-up company.

 

At the end of the day I think I can safely say that driving this bus is the most fun job I could ever imagine.  I hope to do it for a long, long time… and maybe with your help I will.

 

Thanks for the support!

 

Dave
 

*COBRA is a registered trademark of Ford Motor Company and Factory Five Racing does not describe its products using this word.