Factory Five State of the Union

July 2009 Update from FFR's David Smith

The Factory Five Ship of State continues to steam along thru challenging times thanks to our loyal customers, our crew and new products, and our strong brand.  It’s getting hard to not brag about the new ‘33 Hot Rod since we’ve been going to a ton of custom car shows and getting rave reviews.  The car is cool and it is fun to have people acknowledge your hard work with their hard earned money.  Still the new kid on the block hasn’t knocked the King Mk3 off its perch just yet!

One of the biggest stories lately has been the Shelby lawsuit of last December.  The good news is that our legal house is in order and by now I think the bumper sticker “Honk if you’ve been sued by Carroll” is becoming a sad reality.  The list of people who have been sued by Carroll is a virtual “Who’s Who” of the auto industry (Ford Motor Company in 1992 to the Shelby American Car Club last year!).  While the legal process is agonizingly slow and expensive, we are looking forward to a favorable conclusion soon.  To date we have spared our customers the pass-thru costs associated with this action, but that may not last as this drags on.  For full details, check out my recent update.  If and when we raise kit prices, it will likely be part of a decision to produce fewer kits.

’33 Hot Rod News:

Other big news has been the 33 Hot Rod.  The car got off to a great start last Fall at the 2008 SEMA show, where it was featured in Ford Racing’s booth and won “Best in Show” with Ford's monster "Aluminator" 600+ HP super-charged 4.6L engine and Chip Foose's new enviro-line of water soluble paints. Shortly thereafter, the car became a runaway hit, being featured in Street Rodder Magazine, and headlining car shows this summer like, NSRA-York, GoodGuys Nationals in Columbus, and Right Coast Nationals in Syracuse.  Today the car sits proudly on the Ford Racing Show and Event truck, most likely heading to a venue near you. 

At the end of April, a group of FFR engineers, racers, and customers built a ’33 in only FIVE days as part of a Hot Rod Magazine build-up story.  That sinister black monster is now heading to the NSRA Nationals show in Louisville, KY (Aug 6-9) and is owned by Hot Rod Magazine editor, Rob Kinaan.

In addition to the Show wins, the new FFR Hot Rod has done well on the track.  At the 2009 GoodGuys show the car out-performed some impressive $100,000+ pro touring cars in the autocross event.  At local races we’ve run faster in the 33 race-rod than our class-leading spec racers!  In production we’ve just crested the 100 car mark and now our multiple fender options are in production. 

The crew has learned a ton about the street rod business and it’s exciting to see the changes and new customers this car is bringing to the company.  Also, we have some HUGE surprises in store for the SEMA show later this year with the car.

In response to customer requests we ditched the dual roll-bars in favor of a single full-width unit that works with the hard top (doesn’t have to be removed).  We will soon be offering a $9,900 Stage 1 and Stage 2 Hot Rod kit (essentially chassis/driver and body/trim/interior kit) to make it easier for guys to get started on their 33’s.

Mk3 Roadster News:

Mk3 customers in Massachusetts are still on hold.  Despite the fact that SEMA Model Legislation has made it's way around the country, now being effective law in over 30 states, Massachusetts remains a challenge.  After being passed without objection by the Massachusetts House and Senate in 2008, the Bill suffered a "pocket veto" when Governor Deval Patrick failed to sign it into law.  This year with the help of a huge number of enthusiasts, it appears the modified Bill is finally headed for passage. Click for more details.

The venerable Mk3 Roadster has established itself forever as the King of the Roost when it comes to replicas.  Many of our fellow kit-competitors have fallen on hard times, while the Mk3 continues to lead.  Thanks in no small part to some huge specials we’ve come up with, the Mk3 accounted for 299 units sold in the first 6 months of the year!  Notable thanks to our many suppliers who have helped us make it easier for guys to build their cars by adding tremendous value to the kits in a lower economy.  For now, as we’ve offered discounts to customers at shows and with our DVD mailing, we decided to keep the ball rolling and offer the same specials to everyone else as well, and the new offer softens the post-kit sale hangover from the recent spring special.

GTM News:

The GTM continues to do well, earn praise from guys on the street, and has now garnered several cable TV opportunities for the company.  The Nor-Cal based Prototype Development Team has been winning SCCA races with impunity and we are weighing carefully some proposals for this year’s SEMA show and a broadcast special on both the design/engineering story of the GTM as well as an alternative fuel-powered Hot Rod!

We have an opportunity to launch a new transmission/transaxle to replace/supplant the ever-more scarce Porsche units, but will likely have to gather a large pre-order to offset the tooling costs.  We’ll have more on this soon.

The GTM has been a standout in the export business as well.  FFR kit exports to Europe, South America, Australia/New Zealand include the GTM, Mk3 Roadsters and now ‘33 Hot Rods.  Canada and the UK have seen some recent changes that will hopefully allow FFR customers in those countries to purchase product that is configured similar to US product and we have a great new freight forwarding company, Ian International, to help international customers get product from our door to theirs reasonably priced!  Think of the guys at Ian International as the Stewart Transport of the export business for FFR’s.

It has been a remarkable summer and we are all looking forward to the pending fall building season. I have spent a great deal of time with customers this summer, listening to ideas, scaring people on test drives, and simply reminding myself what I love about this company! 

We will take a hard look at prices as we approach the conclusion (hopefully) of the Shelby action and add up the legal bills.  For now we have some great reasons for you to start building your part of the Factory Five story. Looking ahead I see Factory Five growing and finding opportunity in a more challenging environment, where we will succeed as long as we can continue to deliver real value and help our customers leverage their skills to build great cars without spending great amounts of money.

Dave Smith

President

• Other What's New items