In the beginning...

(image used without permission)

Well, here's my blog. I've successfully avoided them for oh-so-many years but I figure this is the best way to chronicle the build of my Factory Five Racing Roadster Mk 3.1. It will serve as a record of my progress as well as a history to be submitted when I try to title the car.

It all started around 1965 when I was but 7 years old. I saw a picture of a 1965 Shelby Cobra in a magazine and showed it to my father, saying he should buy one.

Sadly, he didn't.

Being so young, I forgot about it shortly after that.

Fast forward to 1976. The Gumball Rally movie came out and being a car freak I had to go and see it. Once again I was smitten by the look and sound of the Cobra (I recently found out that two different cars were actually used in the movie.) To this day I still drool when I see that movie - pretty frequently as I bought my own copy a few years ago.

Moving on to 1978. I was in college and was taking my at-the-time girlfriend home for the summer. I was, of course, jabbering about cars. She mentioned that her father had a friend who had an old car and would I like to see it? Of course I would! So we went over there to meet him. He opened up the garage door AND THERE SAT A SHELBY COBRA!!! He offered me a ride and I was in the car before he could even finish asking. He fired it up, pulled out onto the street and punched the gas pedal.

OH...........HOLY............CRAP!!!!!

I had a sh!t-eating grin on my face for the rest of the week after that ride.

Shortly thereafter the girl broke up with me so I never got to go back to see the man and his Cobra again.

Every few years I'd get the bug and check the kit prices but they were still out of reach.

Fast forward again to 2008. I'm now 50 years old, somewhat settled in my life and my kids are grown. Digging around in some web sites I came across several different Cobra enthusiast boards including ClubCobra and ffcars. Through those I started researching prices and construction of the various kits. After considering a number of them, and weeding out quite a few due to price constraints, I settled on a Factory Five Racing Roadster. Visually it's styled after the 1965 AC Motors body style used by Shelby for his Cobras. Due to litigation from Shelby Enterprises, Factory Five can't and won't call it a Cobra but that's what it looks like, and that's what I'll be mostly calling it in this blog.

Anyway, FFR has an affordable kit and the list of included parts is tremendous. I especially like the frame they use - it appears to be extremely strong and well built. The body has a few spots that aren't quite original looking, but they can be fixed. They're so minor though that most people would never notice the difference anyway.

The FFR concept is that you take a donor car - in this case a 1987 to 1993 Ford Mustang - and use various pieces in conjunction with their kit and you come up with a Roadster. Having rebuilt several vehicles in the past, it sounds like it shouldn't be too much of a problem for me. I love to tinker so this is right up my alley.

So the first order of business was to find a donor. I read numerous newspaper and online ads and finally ran across a car that seemed usable. It's a 1989 Mustang GT with a supposedly rebuilt engine. And when I got it in November, it was filthy and ran like crap. The remaining two-tone paint is a faded red on top and titanium on the bottom. Interspersed freely within those are black, yellow and rust. It has a red interior which is in surprisingly good shape given the appearance of the outside. But it has a 5.0L engine, T-5 transmission and 8.8" rear axle and those are the main parts I need.

We named it Morton.

It's actually so ugly that I haven't taken any pictures of it yet.

With a concerted effort and much research, primarily at sbftech.com, I got the engine running well. It doesn't seem to burn oil and the exhaust is surprisingly non-noxious so I guess it's actually in pretty good shape.

So with the donor procured, the whining started in earnest. I did my best to convince my wife that life wouldn't be worth living if I couldn't build a Cobra replica. I moped, I cajoled, I whined and finally I mentioned that Factory Five was having a sale. Ah, the magic word.

The sale was a $2000 discount off of the kit price, or a bundle of upgrades, most of which I didn't want from them anyway. So she relented and on January 29, 2009 I ordered my Factory Five Racing 1965 Roadster Mk 3.1 base kit. Boy, that's a mouthful. I specified a bare, un-powdercoated frame as there are a couple of modifications I want to make, a passenger side rollbar and the 3-link rear suspension upgrade. The ready date of my kit is February 14, 2009 - what a Valentines present for me!!!

I'll take copious pictures when it arrives and I'll even get some of Morton the Mustang before and during the dis-assembly process.

For now, I'm working frantically on cleaning and rearranging my garage. This whole thing is happening much, MUCH faster than I thought it would so I'm scurrying around trying to get everything ready. The weather is not cooperating though. It's been at or below freezing pretty much since I placed the order. With no heat in the garage I can't stay out there too long and I can't paint. But this weekend is supposed to be around 60* so I'm hoping to get a lot done.

Well, that's enough for my introductory post. Stay tuned as I'll be adding commentary, pictures, random thoughts and way too much babbling as I go on.