Club Cobra - Question on Factory 5/Kirkham hybrid on Ebay

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Question on Factory 5/Kirkham hybrid on Ebay

Hey guys, there is a Kirkham bodied Factory Five framed and suspended car on Ebay the owner said was built that way on purpose.

Anybody have any thoughts on the FF frame quality verses all Kirkham?

Does it matter much?

TIA

Stimpy

The listing sure is light on details. Registered as a 66 Ford in California. Tilt...title is not correct/legal for CA.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1966-...0385a645#v4-37

Thanks for the thoughts

This car has come up several times. I'm not sure why it changes hands so often

Didn't FFR build one aluminum bodied car as a prototype and cost analysis vehicle?
Larry

A LOT of rough spots on that thing. Looks like someone bought a Kirkham Body and did a pretty ham fisted job of sticking it on a FF frame.

It does not look too bad to me, depending on the price. Not sure the story on the car, but I was next to a guy at a show who was fitting a Kirkrham body on an F5 two years ago. I am not sure if it is the same car. He was a private pilot, he did a great deal of work on the car, and at the time had a lot of people commenting on how he did it. At the time, the car was not complete. He had to purchase the body from someone, and the F5 from F5. Neither company was crazy about the idea. I believe F5 finally said okay, but he had to get the body else where from a private owner who KMS build ran out of money. He was doing more of a rat-rod look and had the plane bomber seats in it. Good quality build at the time, but rat-rod bomber seats?

After all said and done, he told me he was doing it to save money - it was a two day show so i got to hear time after time to all of the F5 guys who were interested how he made all of the modifications to make it work - it was extreme. He admitted, if he had to do it all over again, he wouldn't have done it. Thousands of dollars and expert levels of fabrication had to be done to both the body and the suspension. The rear suspension had be significantly customized. He confessed after the build would be complete it would be the cost of the Kirkham.

It just adds a lot of risk to the build and question as to what you have. Either someone did a class "A" job of making it work or someone did not and after the custom modification he had made it was easy to believe the cost would be equal to that of a KMS or there about. And if not, what you have is Frankenstein.

A possibly good buy for the right price if someone was willing to invest in it to make it right (assuming it is not); but for someone who is looking at it to buy a driver to start cruising I would pass unless it was sold for $22k.

Thanks, great stuff

Excellent color.

I do like the slightly tarnished look to the alloy, gives it a plane-like quality that would appeal to a pilot, no doubt.

Thanks again for taking the time,

S

I like it! FFR makes a great frame using Ford parts = less$ and it is rigid. If I were in the market I would look at this one hard. If my memory recalls correctly I think he is in the 40 range? :MECOOL:

Chassis is one thing - what suspension? Does it have IRS? FFR offers that as an option / upgrade.

If that is one of the two cars that FFR tried to put a kirkham body on, then it is a turd and a half. Ive seen it and the metal has been beat to hell to try to get the body to bolt to the FFR frame (the frankenstein bolts on the sides of the body) The side pipe cut outs have also been hacked away at as well as the rolled cockpit edges. Note the fat roll bar. I've owned a factory five and while the framed was decent looking, the car road like crapola. I sold mine and about the only thing i miss is the 0-60 time, but that was all due to the power to weight ratio. If he thinks he is going to get 40grand for that car, he better think again. He should change the title of the listing as well. It might have what originated as a Kirkham body, but it should certainly not be marketed as a Kirkham!!!

There's a lot of little things I picked up on. As others have said the body attachment is a little off. The body doesn't roll under like a aluminum body should and the body has been hacked up to make room for some other panels in the engine compartment. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what kind of knock off's those are? They look like a large center nut? I don't know might be a pig n polk or might be half way decent. Anyway you look at it the body alone is worth 12K to 15K I believe. Still at the end of the day it's a wild child for sure!

No question it has its anomolies (like the cowl not being attached to the frame??) but I'll bet there's quite a few people out there who can turn this 'hybrid' into a pretty nice Cobra.

rodneym

It hasn't hit reserve yet. Betting that it probably won't in the remaining 18 hrs.

It didnt sell-shocker!

does not look like a Kirkham body to me. Too many details look odd. I'd ask the source, the Kirkhams, about this particular car.

The same seller, "goldnstates" on eBay also had an aluminum Daytona Coupe for sale that didn't meet the reserve:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1966-...item3f0385b8e3

Item # 270642034915

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, they say! Something is just a miss with this one too. He's got way to much time on his hands. You have to admired the dedication though!

The car has been relisted and is up to around 35,000-reserve met. Something tells me the buyer will want to back out when they see it in person. Im telling you all, that body has been beat to he-- and back.