Factory Five Community Charity Work in COVID Year!

Got lemons? Make Lemonade is the old adage.  That’s exactly what the crew at Factory Five and the larger Factory Five community has been doing this year of COVID, a.k.a. “The Year without car shows!”  FFR charitable work has been remarkable and the results are making a a real difference. Here are a few of the notable builds and efforts of the past year!

London Cobra Show raises $267,000 for Cystic Fibrosis!

Last year we donated in full our very first (Serial #001) 25th Anniversary Mk4 Roadster kit t the Ohio Cobra Club.  The club would build the car and raffle it off as the 2020 giveaway car at the annual London Cobra Show.  Serial number 001 sold more than 17,000 raffle tickets! The gang at the Ohio Cobra Club could not host the annual cruise event, but were able to draw the winning ticket and forward a whopping $267,000 to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  To date, the Ohio Cobra Club has raised $1.7 Million dollars for the CF Foundation.  This year’s 2021 event is tentatively scheduled for June 24th-26th, and will go forward if the pandemic continues to subside.

Manheim Auto Auctions raises $154,000 for Make-A-Wish Foundation!

In the year of COVID, in-person auto auctions have migrated on-line. The boys at Manheim Auto Auctions decided to spend their down-time building a beautiful blue Factory Five Type 65 Coupe and offered it up for auction to benefit The Make-A-Wish Foundation.  The car was sold last week at their dealer auction on March 25th, 2021 and sold for a jaw-dropping $154,000!  ALL of that money was donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the price is a high water mark for an FFR Coupe.

Austin Hatcher Foundation Builds a Pair of Factory Fives!

Rose Kawasaki heads up the effort to have not one, but TWO Factory Fives built to benefit the Austin Hatcher Foundation working to cure childhood cancer.  The two cars are a matching set Mk4 Roadster and a new Gen 3 Type 65 Coupe!  The Mk4 was picked up last month and the Coupe was picked up the other day!  The cars will be built and displayed at the 2021 SEMA Show before being auctioned with all of the proceeds going to the Austin Hatcher Foundation!

2021 St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Build #7 is on!

Dave Smith and Ron Everitt with the painted body for St. Jude donation car, 2021.

This year is the 7th year and the 7th car we’ve donated to St. Jude and the Pilots of Fed Ex.  Every year a group of Fed Ex pilots gather to build a Factory Five Roadster.  Last year (2020), they built a Daytona Coupe that raised $65,000, and the year before they built TWO FFR MK4 roadsters that netted an astounding $240,000 ($120,000 each car!). All the proceeds go to benefit the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  Take a tour of St. Jude and meet the children and families they are helping and you’ll be a supporter for life! Check out their St. Jude-FedEx build page.

Latest Factory Five News

Dave E. Graduates his ’33 Hot Rod Build!

Congratulations to Dave E. on graduating his ’33 Hot Rod build! After being a fan of Factory Five for a number of years, and dreaming of a Roadster project, Dave shifted gears once he laid eyes on a FFR ’33 Hot Rod at the build school at Mott Community College. Dave and his wife would soon order a Hot Rod kit, and take the opportunity to learn new skills throughout the build. Dave built his Hot Rod with a BluePrint Engines carbureted 400 c.i. engine package, and painted the body Tobacco Matalic. Read Dave’s build journey below. “Prior to this… Read More »

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Charlie D. Graduates his Type 65 Coupe!

Customer Charlie D. started his Coupe build in Spring 2018, and by the end of the year, he had his first start and was soon go-carting around the neighborhood. Over the next year, he worked on fitting the body. He had to hit pause on the build for several years due to focus on some other projects. But he kept his Coupe dream alive, and once the other projects were finished, he got back to work on his Factory Five. Over the next year, they focused on her treatments, and thankfully, she beat cancer in mid-2025 and has a clean… Read More »

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Sinks Family Garage Build a Mk4 Roadster on YouTube

At Factory Five, we build. We build cars, stories, friendships, and relationships. The story of Rusty and Wyatte S. building a Mk4 Roadster, and in the process, bonding as father and son is the best outcome. Here’s Rusty sharing their story so far: “After 26 years in the Coast Guard and spending my last few years away from home, I knew when I returned that I needed to reconnect with my son, Wyatte, in a meaningful way. I asked him if he wanted to restore an old car or build something like a Factory Five Roadster — and without hesitation, he… Read More »

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