New FFR coupe

[michael Everson]

http://www.ffcars.com/forums/158-fac...five-818c.html

Great looking car if you ask me.
Mike

[slipondajimmy]

http://www.ffcars.com/forums/158-fac...five-818c.html

Great looking car if you ask me.
Mike

FF does do some good work . Thats for sure!

[fauxknowitall]

FFR Kits

Factory Five Racing is a great company. Everything they do is first class and well engineered.
I have been a customer of theirs since 1996 .

[aflo]

I wish the design was up to the engineering and product support.

[fauxknowitall]

Use your imagination and fabricating skills to make the way you want it. Cosmetic changes are relatively easy once you have a great platform.

[cutlass442]

I wish the design was up to the engineering and product support.

Agreed. That design, especially the hardtop roof looks very cheap and kitcar-ish. Like the kits of the 1970s and 80s a very simplistic crude design

[fauxknowitall]

Agreed. That design, especially the hardtop roof looks very cheap and kitcar-ish. Like the kits of the 1970s and 80s a very simplistic crude design

cutlass442, What do you think of the Factory Five Cobra replica ?

[cutlass442]

I like it. The 818 just looks too much like a s2000 with a bad body kit, and the hardtop version looks even cruder

I love what factory five does in terms of making affordable easy builds , they just need a Really stellar design

They need an Orlando M or Matt (vaydor) to come up with a sexy car

[funexec]

FFR needs to hire matt or some other talented designer for some great designs. they have the execution down well. but design...mehhh. The GTM needs help too, with design upgrades it could be super wow in design and performance.

[aflo]

Amateur designer is the problem for FFR. Why would they want to hire some other amateur? They ran a competition and got some decent designs but just didn't use them, opting for their in-house guy instead.

[ZIGGYtheIRISH]

they claimed they couldn't do the design because it didn't fit their platform. which makes me wonder why have a design contest at all? But after all the backlash and all their defense of their in house design, they finally changed it to sorta look like the winning design. still looks just ok. ive always felt like there is a good opportunity to make a kit for the 818, but i just don't have the time or money to do it. the point of a kit car is to look like a $1,000,000 car for a fraction of the price! this looks like a $30,000 for $20,000. as far as performance for price goes, Im not sure why you wouldn't just buy a used 911 or cayman for just about the same price? they look mush better too and have a real badge to show off.

[fauxknowitall]

Amateur designer is the problem for FFR. Why would they want to hire some other amateur? They ran a competition and got some decent designs but just didn't use them, opting for their in-house guy instead.

Amateur Designer ? Factory Five is either very Knowledgeable in what it takes to design and market an original design OR they are the luckiest Kit Car company in the World. Since the 818 initial launch Factory Five has been able to sell these kit as fast as they can produce them. The 818 is the fastest selling component car in the World ! I Don't think it is luck that has produced such a great selling component car. This car appeals to a demographic that has the disposable money and resources to build and enjoy these kits. The Vaydor is a great looking exotic component car , BUT Matt doesn't have the capability to produce them at the rate that they could be sold. The Vaydor is not advertized in any kit car magazines or online kitcar publications. People on this forum are often asking , How to get in touch with Matt ( Vaydor) and Mat has not returned many many email request for information about his creation. Maybe Matt is still paranoid and looking over his shoulder after what he went through with the 8entley people and Volkswagen AG.

[kreb]

Im not sure why you wouldn't just buy a used 911 or cayman for just about the same price? they look mush better too and have a real badge to show off.

The Porsches are far more refined visually and dynamically, but to make one as fast as a good 818 would take tearing the Porsche down to its bones, taking all the compliance out of the suspension, and you'd still have very high parts costs. The 818 audience is largely comprised of people who don't want the inherent compromises of "racing out" a production car, and want supercar performance at a low entry and upkeep price.

In other words, it's apples and oranges.

But from a strictly visual standpoint, the 818 is conservative. It looks like it would be likely to have a Toyota or Mitsubishi logo on the side. It's a shame they didn't have the cojones to make a statement. Although if they did, they'd probably have turned off more customers than turned on. That's the way statement designs are. Love or hate.

[aflo]

Amateur Designer ? Factory Five is either very Knowledgeable in what it takes to design and market an original design OR they are the luckiest Kit Car company in the World. Since the 818 initial launch Factory Five has been able to sell these kit as fast as they can produce them. The 818 is the fastest selling component car in the World ! I Don't think it is luck that has produced such a great selling component car. This car appeals to a demographic that has the disposable money and resources to build and enjoy these kits. The Vaydor is a great looking exotic component car , BUT Matt doesn't have the capability to produce them at the rate that they could be sold. The Vaydor is not advertized in any kit car magazines or online kitcar publications. People on this forum are often asking , How to get in touch with Matt ( Vaydor) and Mat has not returned many many email request for information about his creation. Maybe Matt is still paranoid and looking over his shoulder after what he went through with the 8entley people and Volkswagen AG.

They do have good product engineering (for this segment), plus good support for their customers. This puts them apart from the vast majority of kit-car makers.
The 818 was their first stated attempt at an original design (the GRM started off as a GT40 replica but evolved into a more or less original design , from the same amateur design team that did the 818).
Design is a PROFESSION. You go to college, get degrees, join professional organizations, publish, teach, etc. NONE of these people are thus qualified. Would you go to a doctor to get your appendix removed if he/she had such amateur qualifications??

[aflo]

they claimed they couldn't do the design because it didn't fit their platform. which makes me wonder why have a design contest at all? But after all the backlash and all their defense of their in house design, they finally changed it to sorta look like the winning design. still looks just ok. ive always felt like there is a good opportunity to make a kit for the 818, but i just don't have the time or money to do it. the point of a kit car is to look like a $1,000,000 car for a fraction of the price! this looks like a $30,000 for $20,000. as far as performance for price goes, Im not sure why you wouldn't just buy a used 911 or cayman for just about the same price? they look mush better too and have a real badge to show off.

They never intended to use the contest as anything other than PR. It would have been easy to take one of the high rating entries and engineer it to work.
I will disagree with your statement that the result kind of looked like the winning design. They never made even the smallest modifications in the "in-house" design to honor the competition entries.