Utah Cobra Club’s Ultimate Idaho Road Trip

The Utah Cobra Club took an unforgettable seven-day adventure from July 5th-11th for their 2024 Summer Cruise, the Ultimate Idaho Road Trip. 

For the drive, 35 members came together to explore Idaho’s landscapes. There were 17 Roadsters, a Corvette, a Subaru BRZ, and a Ford Explorer chase car, Starting in Brigham City, UT, and ending in Lava Hot Springs, UT. Each car clocked 1,344 miles, with participants collectively traveling over 22,848 miles.

The trip began with a drive from Brigham City to Twin Falls, ID, stopping at historic sites like Promontory Point and Shoshone Falls. Day two included visits to the Shoshone Ice Caves and a live performance of “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” in Garden Valley, nestled in the Sawtooth Mountains. 

The third day, the group followed the Lewis and Clark Trail along the Salmon and Clearwater Rivers, enjoying a night in Salmon, ID. Then, the fourth day featured a scenic drive to Stanley, ID, followed by twilight river rafting on the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River.

On the fifth day, the group visited EB-1, the first nuclear plant to power a city in 1951, and took a picture in front of the first nuclear-powered jet engines, a proof-of-concept endeavor from the Cold War.

This year’s road trip not only brought together car enthusiasts from across the country but also included four younger participants, fostering a love for cars in the next generation.

A special memorial was held for Larry Johnson, a long-time member of the Utah Cobra Club who recently passed away. Larry was a long-standing member of the Utah Cobra club and recently passed away completely unexpectedly. The trip shared the spirit of the Factory Five community and larger car community, creating lasting memories.

Karen Salvaggio says, “The cars bring us together, but it’s the people that keep us coming back year after year. We’ve built lifelong friendships through this experience. I’m eternally grateful to everyone at Factory Five for their courage, genius, and determination. These cars bring joy, camaraderie, and irreplaceable life experiences. You touch lives in ways perhaps never imagined, and I feel incredibly lucky to be part of something so wonderful.”

Latest Factory Five News

Mark S. Graduates His Mk4 & Scores Magazine Cover!

Congratulations to customer Mark S. on graduating his Mk4 Roadster build! Mark came for a tour of Factory Five in March 2020 to meet Dave Smith and the team. After returning home to the United Kingdom, Mark ordered his Mk4, and it arrived at his garage in February 2021.  Marks good friend, neighbor, and fellow car enthusiast, Stuart H, helpedwith the build which featured a Gen 3 5.0L Coyote, Tremec TKO transmission, 8.8″ solid axle with 3-link rear suspension, 18″ Halibrand wheels, and of course, it had to be in right hand drive. Mark also had the chassis galvanised to…

Read More

Factory Five is Closed Today, Monday January 26, 2026.

I made the call to scrub FFR operations for the day. The drive in wasn’t bad, and most roads are clear. Unfortunately our plow crew was late, and the day dawned with 3-4′ drifts in the back parking lot! We will be at work and at full strength tomorrow. Sorry for any difficulties this may cause. Dave SmithPresident

Read More

Three Generations Embark on a Type 65 Coupe Dream Build

Dave Ryan’s Type 65 Coupe build is moving right along—and it’s become something even bigger along the way. In collaboration with Factory Five Racing, V6 Media is producing a short film documenting the build process. Recently, Dave’s father, Vaun Ryan, sat down to share his lifelong passion for performance cars and motorcycles—sparked as a young boy on the family farm in Utah, building a homemade go-kart powered by a hay-elevator motor. That curiosity for how things work turned into a lifetime of mechanical enthusiasm, passed down through generations and now culminating in Dave’s Type 65 Coupe build, which is a…

Read More
Top