2011 Winter Open House, "Moochfest," Report
Big Crowds Come to Wareham for Winter Open House
Factory Five stalwarts John George and Rob Baker (driving) hardcore.
My tech support manager Jason Lavigne said it best, “I think we need a bigger building.”
This year’s Winter Open House, also known as Moochfest (more on that in a second), was by far the best attended and most fun yet. An estimated crowd of 300-500 people made our 60,000 square foot building seem mighty small. Five brave Factory Five customers brought their cars which is remarkable owing to the fact that was 12 degrees out as I headed in at 7 AM. Even more impressive is Dave Maurer his Factory Five from York, Maine!
The crowd went through 55 pizzas and tons of Dunkin’ Donuts in about 20 minutes. I gave a brief presentation on what we’ve done in the last year at Factory Five and what lies ahead for us. We introduced five news items: a new online forum, a new Type 65 Coupe (Gen 2), an engine program with Tasca and Ford Racing, updates to our racing series, and the most talked about surprise was our plans for our new Subaru WRX-based “world” car.
I also took about 150 people on a plant tour around the building. The entire Factory Five staff did an excellent job. One of our guests had a diabetic problem and the crew was on it with sugar soda and donuts and she’s fine. Only one snafu struck and it was a scary one. Customer Joe Masciarelli was picking up his GTM and the car slipped off the fork truck while loading. The car only fell a few feet and luckily no one was hurt. Even more lucky was that we had another GTM built and prepped so that Joe could still go home with his brand new GTM.
The Winter Open House was a great success and I want to thank everyone who took the time to come all the way out to visit us. It might be my imagination, but this morning there were birds singing in my yard and the sun felt a little warmer. We’re still in the grips of winter, but spring and everything that is good that comes with it is just around the corner. Hope to see all of you soon.
Dave Smith
President
