Originally Posted by FACTORYFIVERACING
(Post 2153708)
Guys,
I leave for Los Angeles tomorrow and will not be in the office on Monday as I’ll be at Solidworks World Convention. I read these posts and while many of the questions will be answered with our detailed release (for those unable to attend the unveiling of the car at Moochfest on the 13th), there are a few I can address now.
Mk3 vs. Mk4:
As we crossed things off the list and it started to become obvious that we were within a few months or so of production start-up capability, I agonized about the right and fair way to introduce the Mk4. I spoke to some customers confidentially (some were “outed” here), our staff and advisors, and asked everyone what would be the best way to do this. The consensus was that the most fair thing in the world was to announce the car about a month or two before we thought we could start production and give guys a CHOICE. We figured some guys (like half those asked!) would rather get a deal on the Mk3, while the other guys would be happy to upgrade to the new Mk4 for a cost. Either way we all agreed this would be the most fair way to do it. As far as the new car at the old price, or with discounts, that’s not really possible/reasonable as it is not the same car and requires more cost to us to build (we also invested alot of money in the new design and tooling and at a time when money is more scarce than Obama supporters in Massachusetts-Brown!).
If you have a Mk3 on order you can either keep your order (with discounts) and we will build your Mk3 as planned (even months out) or you can schedule and change to a new Mk4 and pay a bit more. We would never take anyone’s money and change the rules. It will be your choice. Frankly I can’t tell you how much longer we will make Mk3’s... That will be up to you guys more than us. We will of course keep all tooling and some stock for replacement parts (as we do for almost every part on the Mk1’s and 2’s) for a long long time.
As far as suppliers are concerned, the new Mk4 has quite a few changes and all new panels/molds. The Gess brothers (solid guys) trunk will work on all 7,250 Mk1, 2, and 3’s but not on the Mk4’s that are to come. The trunk aluminum and cockpit aluminum was too connected to the bolt-in suspensions and lowered/reshaped trunk/concealed fuel tank to consider outside vendor impact. They are all-new. Still the Mk3 is not out of production yet and we have many orders on the books and with the close-out specials we are offering, even more people may choose to have us build one before the car is discontinued, so effect on vendor stocks will likely not be as dramatic as might be feared... They were certainly part of the equation.
Passenger roll bar matches the new smaller diameter driver side roll bar and passenger mounts are still there on the frame, whether used or not.
Hood scoop is NOT cut-out or a molded part of the hood. You have to cut and rivet the scoop in place (off-set a bit if you want it to be true to FFR history). The perky butt will also have to be added to the Mk4 as an aftermarket modification (joke).
Footbox aluminum goes outwards and footbox crash bar moved outboard for 1.5” more space at the outside far corner. I have sat in the car and I can take my booted foot off the clutch and stretch my leg straight out to the left. Pretty good. And the wives/girls will like the larger passenger side at last.
I am excited about the new car. There will be a ton more details shortly and I will be at Moochfest along with the enginering and technical staff to answer personally any questions. It was my decision alone to accelerate the release of this information and put this “summary of changes” out early at the specific request of Bill and the forum guys. We will NOT show people the car BEFORE Moochfest (unless you are a customer with a kit on order) as we have divulged quite enough here.
About letting folks know about the project all along:
There was no way we could do this. First of all we really didnt have any solid idea of when the project would be completed. We began work on this two years ago and in earnest/full time last summer. Unlike most projects we’ve done, I really did not know when we would be done with this one. We didn’t have a ton of resources and as other challenges came up this past year, we had to take the project one day at a time. Frankly had it not been for the economy we might have completed this much faster. We did say way back in our March 2008 Newsletter that we would be considering some “legacy series” cars for 2009, so while the project didn't end up exactly as we said, we’re not too late on that call, but that’s about all we said.
Also, I knew that this might be our last “bite at the roadster apple” and I didn’t want outside pressure to rush the project and cause us to gloss over something important. I could not have given earlier notice on this product and almost the entire staff was in the dark about the actual release status/dates because in many ways I didn’t want to have pressure from customers compromise the development path. I figured it would be ready when it was ready. To date we have all production tooling complete with the exception of some smaller welding fixtures and robotic programming. The car we are showing is the first production sample and we will have kit with the gel-coated body on display at Moochfest on the 13th.
I hope all of you know how committed the people at Factory Five are to making sure everyone is served fairly and with the utmost consideration. I wrote some other posts recently about last year and this car specifically.
If any of you have any questions that are not answered, please be patient and I’m sure that the unveiling at Moochfest will make you grin.
If you are a customer and have an order with us, we are here to speak with you and do whatever is best for you. Monday may be busy, but you are in very good hands, that I can assure you!
I am as proud of the work the team has done as I am excited about this new release. You can get the latest and greatest Mk4 soon, or you can get the established category leader Mk3 for a bargin price. I KNOW you’ll like what we’ve done. I also know that if this company is true to it’s calling and charter, this won’t be the last time I introduce you to something new and exciting from our crew!
Dave Smith
President
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