Hot Rod Truck Update – April 2018
I figured it was time to give folks an update on where we are with our exciting new ’35 Hot Rod Truck. Our company continues to improve new product launches, and the rollout of the new truck shows this. If you recall, we pulled the wraps off of our alpha version prototype at SEMA 2017 after building the car with Mike and Pat from PowerNation TV’s “Engine Power”. After SEMA, we set our goals to begin production in the first quarter of 2018. Since then, we have made some significant engineering changes to the car. The biggest changes were the addition of a full cage on the inside of the truck cab, we’ve increased footbox space, and added a drop-down cut-away to make getting in and out easier. We’ve designed full fenders and structural running boards to compliment the new hood and side covers.
Factory Five’s production shop truck is being built right now in the R&D shop incorporating the last four months of engineering changes.
Our production truck will have full fenders and running boards with hood and side covers.
Factory Five’s Jim Schenck and Jon Dean check fitment of the production running boards.
Mold maker and master shaper John Crowell shows FFR Tech guru Tony Zullo tailgate and bed alignment.
We’ve built five beta trucks, and are building in-house right now our own production truck that incorporates all of the engineering changes that have been added to the ’35 Hot Rod Truck. Production dates have been assigned, and we have sold more than 50 initial orders with production full into July 2018. I am very excited about the huge variety of builds that are underway or about to be.
Customer Tom Wallace has built a ton of Factory Fives, and we are lucky that he is building one of the very first ’35 Hot Rod Trucks. Tom picked up his kit this past Monday, April 9th, and will be building his car in his shop in Florida and sharing his build online.
Tom Wallace drove up from Florida with his buddy and painter Chris Dobbs who is building an Mk4 Roadster.
FFR’s Nate Johnson and Chris Ronni help Tom and Chris load the Hot Rod Truck into their trailer.
The truck bed is stainless steel with an optional wood floor. Separate dash shown.
Hot Rod Magazine’s Mark Gearhart is building Hot Rod #005, which is the first non-beta serial number (effectively the first production Pick-Up Truck).
Click here to read Hot Rod Magazine’s intro to the project and Mark’s recent visit to Factory Five.
This is a rendering of Hot Rod Magazine’s Factory Five ’35 Hot Rod Truck! The truck will be built over the next 6 issues of Hot Rod Magazine.
Above/Foreground: Our in-house production truck will be used for demos and test drives, and will be powered by this Edelbrock supercharged 690 HP 5.0L Coyote.
Below: Factory Five Tech Dave Brigham assembles the engine components for our production Pick-Up Truck.
Factory Five ’35 Truck Builds
November 2017 – FFR #001X Alpha Truck prototype introduced at SEMA 2017 powered by BluePrint 306 cu. in. with carbureted, auto trans, 3-link, open-wheeled (view photo gallery)
February 2018 – F5R1000001TR, Factory Five Full Fender Production Demo Truck powered by Edelbrock supercharged 5.0L Coyote with 5-speed TKO transmission and 3-link rear suspension
March 2018 – F5R1000002TR, Factory Five Barrett-Jackson Project Truck being built by Ron Everitt. Details to be released soon.
March 2018 – F5R1000003TR, ’35 Hot Rod Truck being built by Erik Treves. Build plan is for pro-street style truck, no fenders, twin-turbo 5.0L. Erik is famous for over-the-top builds, and this will be his best yet! Erik has done two amazing builds recently on www.thefactoryfiveforum.com. He built one of the very first 289 FIA/USRRC cars and he also built a show-winning Gen 3 Type 65 Coupe that was in our booth at SEMA 2017. His build will be posted on the forums.
April 2018 – F5R1000004TR, ’35 Hot Rod Truck being built by customer Tom Wallace. Tom is mum about his build plan, but will be documenting his progress on www.thefactoryfiveforum.com.
April 2018 – F5R1000005TR, ’35 Hot Rod Truck being built by Mark Gearhart and Hot Rod Magazine. Like Erik, Mark has a reputation for building extreme machines, and his Hot Rod Magazine build will introduce 500,000 hardcore hot rodders to the new Factory Five Truck on steroids.
Note: We are also building a 900 HP NASCAR engine-powered Truck with the crew at Snap-On Tools for NASCAR driver Joey Logano, and Fred Simmons, Jr. from SMG Motoring is building an LS-powered Truck in the coming weeks.
Concurrent to the truck project has been our all-steel body project which was introduced two years ago, and is finally getting into production. We have received eight steel bodies, and are fitting them for customers.
Chris Ronni brings the eight crated steel bodies into the main warehouse.
Above & Below: The crew checks out the first production lot of eight steel ’33 Hot Rod bodies.
FFR Tech Tony Zullo fits the steel body ’33 panels with FFR Engineers Jim Schenck and Jesper Ingerslev.
