Yesterday I took her out twice and one that involved a bit of a drive through the backroads of interior Maine. While there has been a bit of a chill in the air in the early mornings, I have found my most enjoyable driving experiences have been of late. Likely it’s partially due to becoming more and more comfortable driving. My initial drives this summer unfortunately we’re plagued with power steering hose issues (twice an d bit my fault) and a loose power wire to the fan. Since addressing while I enjoyed my rides I was often thinking what else will go wrong. A few times on the highway my mind has wandered to what if I have a catastrophic failure? Paranoid I know but having put every nut and bolt together myself, one sometimes wonder these things. She has been a lot more stable now and I think Inhave worked out any kinks. Now the summary is as follows:
- What a bloody blast to drive. That’s my description and I am sticking to it. She has plenty of power, handles really well and being someone who loves almost all roadsters, FFhas down good with this one.
- Yup it’s a head turner. If you want attention you will get it, if you don’t want attention you will get it. Kids to grown-ups will give you the thumbs up to stopping to ask what is it? Or is it real? You may get the odd one that walks away after you tell them you built it but whatever.
- It’s comfortable, at least for me. I’m not a big guy and fit like a glove in the cockpit. I don’t know how some of you big guys fit into but for me at 5’ 7” and 155lbs, it’s perfect. I have found I really like how small of an interior it is as the one thing I am doing in it is driving. I am not on my phone, drinking coffee, having a conversation with my passenger, I am driving and that is the essence of the experience With these cars.
- I have found while I have always considered myself a good driver and have driven all sorts of vehicles, from cars to trucks to a 40ft RV towing a truck, I find myself much more attentive while driving the roadster. Even yesterday while entering interstate 95 I let her loose a bit in third and thought I will check the speedo, nope not going to happen. I was so focused on merging onto an practically empty 95, I did not get a chance. I do know that when just before changing to 4th, scary power and speed would be the description. Having raced bikes many years ago, this brought those memories of those pocket rockets. To quote a great show, “Be careful out there”.
- The community has been and continues to be awesome. There are so many helpful and knowledgeable resources that volunteer their knowledge via posts, PM’s and phone calls. This is what makes FF great and allows many of us to build these beautiful vehicles. Thank you to all of you who have and continue to make this happen. You know who you are!
- The speedo is showing just over 2000 miles so I put on 1500 or so this summer. Not bad but not a lot due to some of the issues I had earlier.
- What would I do diffferent? Take the build slower, I miss it. Sure there are frustrations but when you get over those and eventually get to go-cart stage, you’ve built a car! Seriously not a lot of people do this so it is a big feat especially for those of us who are not gearheads. I would change my dash layout to comp or something that allows me to see both the tach better.
- What am I glad I did? The color, love it and am very happy. The 351w that Mike and Jesse put together is great. The upgraded the cam to one of his custom racing ones and she has the lope and power. Going with 15” tires, really love the look and the MT’s are decent. Yes there is less selection but I like the look of more rubber. Gas-N pipes are awesome and would not change and Georgie is great to deal with. Upgraded to Wilwood brakes from Gordon looks good and performs good.
Hopefully I get another few times out before the snow flies. I’ll keep driving her as long as it’s safe, no ice and no salt/sand on the roads.