Give the Aussie Importers a Go

[Beejay]

Originally Posted by Zeus

Misleading???? How do you figure?

Yes its got a complete wiring harness and seats.
It also has
Authentic 427 Hand Laid 3/16" laminate composite body
6061-T6 Aluminum panel construction (Not a cheap body plug)
Koni fully Adjustable front a rear suspension.
Complete front and back Ford Mustang disc brakes
Complete Steering System
Complete Fuel System
Complete Cooling System
Complete exhaust System
Engine Accessories
Gauges, Dash & Complete Electrical system
Complete Interior
Exterior fnishing Accessories and Lighting
Complete 'Wllwood' pedal box
Complete fastner kit.
200 Page Build manual also available in full colour PDF version.

Lots of good stuff included there no doubt. CR can supply most of not all of these parts too. Personally I think researching and buying those bits for the best price is half the fun of the build.

Tell me, are the seats fully Euro IV and ADR compliant?
Are the brakes compliant in NSW including dust seals on the calipers?
If I wanted to drop in an LS3 for NSW rego would the wiring, cooling systems and power steering all be ok to use?

Like I said, I am not bagging the product, I just think the costs are misrepresented in this thread.

Ben

[sideshow]

In the end the price difference is parts and the labour u pay for someone else to do the work whether u pay the kit manufacturer more to get yr kit at an early stage or maybe u are not as much hands on so u need the builder to do more work before u get it then. Price goes up a ****load
Average mechanical hourly charge rate can be from 70 bucks and hour to over 100 bucks and hour the closer u get to city heheheh
That's y I've globe back to doing mobile as I was paying rent and hardly in the shop

I also think its hard to compare prices because it's not like buying the exact same part from 100 different shops it's basically one brand per shop. So prices will vary but hard to do comparison because one brand of chassis is different to the other even though they look close
I think it will slowly get harder for some parts sellers as just like I've found a lot of inferior products from china it wil be more crucial for people to ask o forums for best parts
Cobras are not like a 3 or 4000 dollar car and where I see on other forums people buy crap
To save anew bucks they can be worth up and over 100000 bucks and u can actually save
A lot of money over that amount but I think most do opt for a part that lasts longer and costs more compared to some of the tight ass guys who work on their jap crap cars and wonder y they break down evry week heheheheheeheheehh

[Beejay]

Originally Posted by Zeus

You need to read the original thread again. It is not rubbishing other cars, simply states the facts of the differences in the concepts.

Are all the CR guys like you 2.
Read the CR site.. $127k on average to build the car.
I could do a Genuine Shelby continaution series for that.
You can build a faithfull recreation of the original for half that with a Factory Five, and it would leave yours for dead in every aspect of performance.

ROFL,

I think you need to do a bit more research matey.

Ben

[Component Cars]

Originally Posted by Zeus

You need to read the original thread again. It is not rubbishing other cars, simply states the facts of the differences in the concepts.

Are all the CR guys like you 2.
Read the CR site.. $127k on average to build the car.
I could do a Genuine Shelby continaution series for that.
You can build a faithfull recreation of the original for half that with a Factory Five, and it would leave yours for dead in every aspect of performance.

Hey Zeus, settle down there big fella!!!!
I thought we agreed that this wasnt for us??
PM Sent

[Modena]

Originally Posted by Zeus

You need to read the original thread again. It is not rubbishing other cars, simply states the facts of the differences in the concepts.

Are all the CR guys like you 2.
Read the CR site.. $127k on average to build the car.

that figure is for a turn-key car. Dump all the FF parts on someone's doorstep, and see how much labour they charge to assemble it. Sure it will probably be cheaper than 127K, but it will be ****eloads more than 40K

Most people are producing beautiful CR's/Harrisons/etc for around 60K by doing it themselves - and some for even less.

There's no arguing with the economies of scale which FF have been able to achieve. It doesn't mean they're better however.

...with a Factory Five, and it would leave yours for dead in every aspect of performance.

them there's fightin' words! There's a couple of folks around here tootling around in a CR and a DRB I believe who might like to talk to you. I suppose we'll see you at Winton to hand out the trophies.

[Modena]

just to clarify my comments, regardless of the banter/argument, I think it's fantastic if the FF comes to Australia as a certified and complianced option. I was seriously considering importing one a year ago, but in the end it was all to hard (and costly with shipping) regarding chassis testing, RHD conversion, yadda, yadda. If you guys are doing all that hard work once to produce a real alternative then fantastic.

Ben

[Component Cars]

Component Cars Australia and on behalf of Factory Five Racing, wish to extend our appology to anyone who may have taken offence to our previous posts.
It was not our intention to be critical or offend other owners or suppliers.

[Mando]

Component Cars Australia, I always wanted to ask someone that could be in the know a question that's always comes to me when I see Factory Five cars. Firstly I know very little about cars or how they work, given that I think the Factory Five cars are fantastic. The chassis, the laser cut panels, the quality of the body and how the car goes together is brilliant. My question is after developing MK1, MK2, MK3 and now MK4 why have all the body shapes been so unusual (duck like) including the latest MK4 model. It's not like they couldn't splash a cast from a Shelby or a Kirkham. I for one would love to buy a Factory Five to use as a track car because of it's cost and quality and then I see that shape and just cringe.

Regards.

[750hp]

Mando, while I might have jumped the gun on Component Cars (I'm guessing the representative's name is Chris going by Component Cars Australia New FFR Australia Agent) for not coming on board to formally introduce themselves and establish some street-cred by offering build tips and compliance advice on the forum, I have to say that the MK4 body looks damn good to me.

It's a night and day comparison to the previous versions, and you'll see on the Yank forum that many ERA and Kirkham owners have noted that the MK4 looks the part. It won't be as dead-on accurate as others in Australia are aiming for, but I reckon the shape looks great.

[Mando]

Craig, that shape is by far the best of their four attempts but a long way from a Shelby, Kirkham or older companies such as Contempary. It's still (duck like).

Regards.

[boxhead]

I just find it "odd" that in the past 3 -4 weeks we have had a few (atleast 3) new members join, no introductions or anything, and all they want to do is talk up the new FF5 Component cars.
Smells like a sales spiel to me.

Oh and Zeus, My car was built, driven and complainced for a price extreemly close to the FF5 kit buy price. That includes stamp duty, engineer costs and 12 months rego.
Yes mine may not be the prettiest, but the build quality is as good as any other car, as is testiment to the many Kls of driving I have done.

But hey, at $40k for the FF5, that does not include paint, just like mine.



Pretty good for my $40k

[Treeve]

Sorry guys, I'm a bit blind to the real details - what at the major visual differences that I should be looking for regarding 'duck like' looks? I'm really struggling to see any major differences between the F5R product and Boxhead's pics above. (Sorry Boxhead if I've missed something obvious!)

Cheers,

Treeve

[Merv and Sharon]

Must be something that I miss as well. I can't see any 'duck' in there.

Component Cars Australia

Either way, our market now has some more choice, rather than less. When Cobras could easily have disappeared under the weight of state and national regulation, we should be pleased about that.

[Donunder]

Originally Posted by Treeve

Sorry guys, I'm a bit blind to the real details - what at the major visual differences that I should be looking for regarding 'duck like' looks?

Does "duck like" refer to the car's err...bum? As in a waddling appearance?
Some cars seem to have enough space on their boot lids to land a chopper (great for boot carrying capacity no doubt) while others have tight pert rears. Some may say too chopped off. Beauty...eye of the beholder...all that stuff. Your choice.

I've always though that the hardest part to get absolutely correct is that portion from twelve o'clock on the rear wheel arch to the rear of the car. Too "cut in" and it looks skinny and unbalanced. Too flared and it looks like a windsock or one of those hideous Jap body kits the ricer boys use to disguise drift damage. But get it right, with the right size tyre filling the arch and there's not a better shape in the automotive world.

As for the difference between the FF5 and Box's car, well one's silver and one's... umm mustard or ochre or perhaps Olgas Orange or even Uluru Umber depending on the time of day and where the sun is in the sky.

[Aussie Mike]

I think Mando might be refering to the FFR "Perky Butt". The older FFR body tended to sweep up at the back where most are more drooping (originals included). Have a look through the galleries on here at the factory 5 cars and you will see what i mean. It looks like they have fixed it in the latest generation.

Cheers

[Mando]

Craig, I take your point on how much they have improved with the MK4 but the shape runs a poor 2nd (to me). The "duck like" term comes from the older cars that have a raised rear end similar to the DRB cars. In my opinion none of the Australian and most of the US manufacturers come close to matching the original shape.

Regards.

[Merv and Sharon]

We are looking for a standard here it seems, at least on the 427 SC variant of Cobras that almost all of us here in Australia seem to have. Pity, we don't have more Cobras shapes in this country. I really liked Rick Parker's 289 slabside in the US, in another thread:



This photo on the FF site shows the current rear.

Component Cars Australia

I seem to recall some criticism of the DRB a year or so ago as it was too 'droopy' in the rear.

[*Cobber*]

Horses for courses, some people like a kit in a box idea, some people like to source and make their own parts some people like to cheque book build.

Lets not have a bun fight on who's body is wrong. The more options the better.

From 30 ft to the untrained eye they all look the same.

Going back to the original point of this thread, many people buy parts or kits from OS because they are cheaper. Porsche brake disc's are 1/3 the local price if you buy them on line from the US and they even come in the same box and are delivered to your door. Local price gouging is what drives people to buy from OS.

If the local kit suppliers can't compete on price and quality they will go out of business. Unlike our heavily subsidised local car manufacturing industry Aussie "kit car" suppliers don't get government subsidy to be able to compete with cheap imports. The cost of doing business in this country is going through the roof, skilled labour rates have to compete with the mining sector to keep staff, industrial unit rental etc etc.

It's a changing world we live in and will be interesting to see see where we are in 10 years time. My gut feel is we will be a country of on line shoppers for all products.

[Philm]

I think factory five is a great product, and I have looked very hard at them many times. However I do feel Component Cars have started on the wrong foot here.

It would have been good if there was an introduction and probably still needs one. Factory 5 are not new to Australia and a serious attempt as an Australian agent has already been tried and by the sounds of it, didn't go as planned.

For me you guys sound like an opportunistic bunch that see a quick profit by selling a "cheap" kit. You never have discussed a local build support programme and may I ask do you have a registered car in all States? As I have said an intro is probably needed.

I tend to agree with Beejay on the cost thing. While the kits are complete there are many things that would need to be disclosed to the prospective kit buyer.

I would say that most items in the complete kit are not suitable in Australia, ie seats, steering column, steering wheels, brakes etc etc. So the $40k price for a kit is not sounding so cheap.

A Turn Key car is a custom build car with a warranty supplied by local supplier. There is a lot more to it than throwing an engine in putting a set of plates on a car. So If I walk up to your sales office will you sell me a turn key car fully compliant with NSW rego, brand new LS3, "proper" Leather interior and a paint job that will win best paint at the nationals for $60K.

Don't slag the local stuff, its a great product. I think factory 5 have a place in our community just respect that it has been here for a long time and just like you local suppliers are just trying to earn a buck!!!

Looking forward to flogging your arse on the race track Zeus, should be careful who you invite into the ring.


Phil

[Mando]

Merv, correct me if I'm wrong but I didn't think FFR made 289 cars let alone 289 slabsides

Regards.