The All-New All-Steel '33 Hot Rod Body Featured at SEMA 2016!

[Mad Dog]

Last week, we pulled the wraps off of the all-steel '33 Hot Rod body that Factory Five has been working on. The body has been on display this week and Power Automedia talked with Dave Smith, Tech Manager Tony Zullo, and Jo Coddington about the how the steel body came to be and it's features. Check out the video!



Click here to learn more about the all-new all-steel Factory Five '33 Hot Rod body!

[GoDadGo]

These Posts You All Put Up Are Great!

[NAZ]

So what's the weight difference between the new steel body and the plastic original? And will the plastic body still be carried for the foreseeable future?

[Mad Dog]

We haven't weighed the body yet to get an exact number, but will weigh it soon to share that with everyone. The original fiberglass body will still be available and come standard in the Hot Rod kit. The steel body is a $9,990 upgrade with your Hot Rod order.

[wallace18]

Great video!

[erlihemi]

I can see the majority staying with the fiberglass body for most builds. That said, many in the rodding community will not acknowledge or respect a non steel build. I would guess that significant time savings in fitment and prep are realized and arguably a better end product with the steel. I would hope that one of the considerations was ease and accessibility to adjusting the doors. Builders are going to have higher expectations with a steel body. I would also hope that the hardtop and windshield are truly interchangeable once the build is complete. The running boards need a support frame. These things and others must be addressed once a higher value kit is offered. I'm all for keepin it real and steel, but more importantly recognize that customer expectations will rise exponentially once you offer steel bodies. Nobody builds a $30K rattle can rat rod...

[myjones]

I can see the majority staying with the fiberglass body for most builds. That said, many in the rodding community will not acknowledge or respect a non steel build. I would guess that significant time savings in fitment and prep are realized and arguably a better end product with the steel. I would hope that one of the considerations was ease and accessibility to adjusting the doors. Builders are going to have higher expectations with a steel body. I would also hope that the hardtop and windshield are truly interchangeable once the build is complete. The running boards need a support frame. These things and others must be addressed once a higher value kit is offered. I'm all for keepin it real and steel, but more importantly recognize that customer expectations will rise exponentially once you offer steel bodies. Nobody builds a $30K rattle can rat rod...

The ability to do a hybrid now that they have the steel and the glass body is an interesting idea for me since I already own the glass body kit . I did the build school in 2012, looked at finished cars at HB and other venues and have followed both forums since 2011. I have seen a few of the glass doors crack at the top corners after the car was painted and used a bit. When you cut out the window slot there just isn't enough horiz surface left to keep the inner and outer skins in proper alignment so the window seal can work properly. I have seen several approaches to adding a metal door top to hold the seal and stiffen the glass door but I like the clean look better. After looking the steel body over closely at SEMA and checking the stiffness of a steel door with the window slot in it I have decided to buy the steel doors for my glass body. I looked at adding something inside the glass doors from a lot of ways but it's such a strange and limited shape when still leaving room for the windows to operate that it was beyond my skill set. I also like the new steel chin piece and the old glass one would have to be cut and sectioned 3/8" narrower according to a few previous builders so that's a no brainer swap too. The added benefit to the new chin is that it replaces most of the body horns that extended forward where the hood sides rest. For the steel body builders that means that the body drop will be easier because the horns don't have to tuck under the front A arm. The same is true when you cut the glass body horns off to use the new steel chin.
DB
Hemi 33

[RogerH]

Great, now I will have to budget more money for my build!!