Complete Domination?

[bobcowan]

Hi, my name is .boB, and I own a Factory Five Roadster.

This is the second car I built. The first was a Classic Roadsters, with the extended wheel base. After I finished it, I wasn't happy with it. I decided to either tear it apart, or sell it and build a new one. So I sold it.

in '02, I was lucky enough to be on the east coast for the Kit Car Nationals. I had a list that I wanted to look at - ERA, Kirkham, FFR, and a few others. I had the oppurtunity to put my hands on each product, and and talk extensivly with each company rep. Every company rep said the same thing: "Our car is better than Factory Five because....." The FFR rep said, "We have a great car because...." That tells you a lot right there.

After taking a very close look at each frame and suspension design, I went with the FFR. There's nothing wrong with Mustang parts. There are millions of Mustangs on the street using them without any problems. Replacements are easy to come by, and inexpensive. BMW and Jag parts, not so much. Look at the price differance between ball joints. Look at the performance differance.

as for performance, again it's what you make it. Most of the time I drive my car on the streets. We cruise with club, take drives through the mountains, and generally enjoy the car. But when I take it to the track, there's nothing faster in the price bracket. It's fun to see people with expensive sports cars get beaten by an old guy who built a car in his garage.

It's been said that FFR owners don't have a sense of history. That's just silly. How can you build a mid 60's race car and not have a sense of history? If you didn't, you'de simply buy a porsche or viper. My sense of history is just a little bit differant than yours. My car is a more modern iteration of the 60's car: small block, 5 speed, EFI, custom wheels, etc. It's my vision of what a Cobra would be if they were building them today.

I also chose not to use old and rusty parts. I did a "non-donor" build, with all new parts. Have you ever seen a '66 Mustang rebuilt with old junk yard parts? I have, more than once. It's not a pretty sight.

Some people are crappy builders, and that's a fact. Doesn't matter what the name of the kit is, some builders just don't do a good job. And we've all seen the results. I have seen a BB non-FFR car with a MII front suspension, 4 lug wheels, and tiny MII brakes.

FFR has sold more than 7,000 Roadster kits. 7,000. That's reported to be more than all other kits combined. And that's just roadsters, doesn't include any of their other cars. What does that tell you? That's it's the '82 Escort of the Roadster world?

Certainly, build quality is more consistant in a Superformance, for obvious reasons. Some FFR's are better, and some are worse. Mines a better build than a roller, becuase it's not a Superformance, ERA, etc. It's a Bob Cowan original. But, some people are builders and some are buyers. Dropping in a drive train into a roller on a Sunday afternoon and saying, "I built that" is like putting a chrome air cleaner on a BMW and saying, "I built that". If there's a bolt, nut, or rivit on my car, I put it there; often more than once.

Is FFR the top of the heap in innovation and quality? I'd have to say no, they're not. But they're not at the bottom, either. But they are certainly the most successfull company in the history of kit cars. You've got to wonder why that is.

If you look down your nose at an FFR simply because it's an FFR, then maybe your eyes are closed. And when you finally open them, you'll bee seeing tail lights and a perky butt.