Donut Kit Car Video - Great Review

[cv2065]

Thought someone might want to watch this. Factory Five is mentioned a few times and Donut is right on the money with his video. Good for first time buyers....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7mHgBlBERU

[frankeeski]

Donut is right on the money with his vide....

They should be. They interviewed me over the phone for more than an hour. They used all of my quote and gave me no mention. Guess they were a bit upset when I told them hard pass on a shop tour when they insisted I be tested for Covid. My shop, my rules.

[GoDadGo]

They should be. They interviewed me over the phone for more than an hour. They used all of my quote and gave me no mention. Guess they were a bit upset when I told them hard pass on a shop tour when they insisted I be tested for Covid. My shop, my rules.

Frank,

I almost became a new fan of this young man until I saw your post.
As my father would tell me often "Beggars Can't Be Choosers" so I agree with you completely.
It was a fun content video nonetheless and I'm glad that at least a few youngsters are interested in the car hobby.

Steve

[cv2065]

They should be. They interviewed me over the phone for more than an hour. They used all of my quote and gave me no mention. Guess they were a bit upset when I told them hard pass on a shop tour when they insisted I be tested for Covid. My shop, my rules.

Wow, that's bad form on both accounts.

[Blitzboy54]

I did bristle a bit when he said "lets be honest, cobra's can be a bit Boomery".

I'm 46

[rich grsc]

I couldn't finish watching it. It was more about him listening to himself talk.

[GTBradley]

Loved it! Puts a very good light on FFR.

[fletch]

"...A good portion of the kit assembly is more like building Ikea furniture than it is being a mechanic. You just gotta follow the steps..." <cringe>
A very small portion of our kit assembly has been anything like putting together knock-down furniture. This has meant many more headaches than anticipated. It's also going to be a source of pride when we're done. There's no "insert Tab A into Slot B" in these things.

[GoDadGo]

"...A good portion of the kit assembly is more like building Ikea furniture than it is being a mechanic. You just gotta follow the steps..." <cringe>
A very small portion of our kit assembly has been anything like putting together knock-down furniture. This has meant many more headaches than anticipated. It's also going to be a source of pride when we're done. There's no "insert Tab A into Slot B" in these things.

Amen Sir Fletch!

[cv2065]

I did bristle a bit when he said "lets be honest, cobra's can be a bit Boomery".

I'm 46

LOL....Although I'm not a Boomer (51), I felt the same way.

[BeePea]

I did bristle a bit when he said "lets be honest, cobra's can be a bit Boomery".

I'm 46

38 here, didn't know that qualified.

[fletch]

I'm 45 and I have no nostalgia for Cobras. My dad liked cars but didn't share much of his interest with me. So I suppose I'm a bit out of the norm here. My interest in the 818 isn't because of a draw toward classic cars, per se (that's probably obvious since it's an 818), but rather the experience of making a vehicle I can enjoy and truly call my own.

[egchewy79]

No boomer here (42), and I took no offense to the video. At the end of the day, I have a kick a$$ car that I love, that turns heads, and that hardcore car guys high five each other over. You don't really appreciate a self built car unless you've been in that position. I'm not so worried what others think of my "kit car".

[CobraboyDR]

In a way, the originals were "kits."

Shelby didn't "build" the cars, he "bought" them and stuffed new iron into them.

Kinda like buying a FFR and stuffing new iron into it.

I'm a Boomer, so I appreciate the nostalgia. That and Dad CB was Ford dealer in GA who also sold the full Shelby line. I got my first ride in an original 260 slabside when I was 12. In an original 427 street car at 14. I've been hooked ever since.

[phileas_fogg]

No nostalgia for Cobras here either. My goal was to build a car from the frame up. And if you're going to do that, it may as well be a cool car. Not many cars as cool as an F5 Roadster.

Too bad the great PR for F5 is marred by failing to credit one of our generous & revered contributors. Frank, thanks for your help to everyone; my car is better for your efforts.


John

[Al_C]

Wow. Lots of thoughts going through my little brain. I liked the video and understand all the comments about it. Yes, I fit into the "boomer" category. No, I didn't build my roadster because I had always wanted a cobra. Truth be told, my favorite cars were 66-67 GTOs and C2 Corvettes. I agree with John - the key was building a really cool car. Now, I'm totally into the whole Cobra thing. I'm more or less an end-goal person rather than a process-oriented person, but the process of building my car here was key. Donut boy made some good points, although I'm not happy about how he treated Frank.

[frankeeski]

Just so we're clear, Joey Rassool from Donut reached out to me on the Factory 5 Family page that my wife and I run. He said from the get go that he was not really interested in the Roadster (Cobra) offerings or even the Hotrods. His (Donut) only interest was the 818. Since their production team is based here in SoCal I offered him/them to visit the shop to, at the very least, give them a look at the quality of the F5R chassis and the completeness of the given kits. I let him know that rarely do I get an 818 in the shop. I pulled the plug on the whole thing before I sent them any picture, video or other media. This is not the first time I've been approached by a production team for something like this. I always get the feeling from these people like they are doing me some kind of favor by "allowing me to be in their production". When I met my wife, she was part of the entertainment and music industry. We know how this works. I have no problem sharing my experience of Factory Five products and automotive knowledge in general to anyone interested. Anything to further the car hobby. I'm not in this for fame and fortune.............. Well, maybe for fortune. LOL. I just love building awesome cars and sharing them with everyone. This is definitely a new generation of car builders. My Youtube playlist includes many younger car enthusiasts and most of the tuners I follow on YT are young as well. There is hope for the car hobby moving forward. The interview honestly was months ago, during the height of Covid and I figured they had shelved the episode after all of this time had past. I hadn't even heard of Donut Media before they contacted me. True story.

[cv2065]

I can see how they only had primary interest in the 818. In many respects, its the car that I see most resembles what a lot of the younger kids are interested in, which are high tech imports. That said, it may have missed its mark there, as the bulk of the comments I get on my Cobra, are from the 25 and under crowd. In their world, it might as well be a caveman witnessing his first campfire.

Either way, I am happy that the hobby will remain healthy, despite the choice of cars. I have a 16 year old kid neighbor just a few houses down from me that mods go karts with turbos and all kinds of crazy stuff. You can just see the wheels turning on how he's going to make it faster. He just bought a used 350Z to tinker with. Sadly, my son is not in that category, but there are enough out there.

[Blitzboy54]

I can see how they only had primary interest in the 818. In many respects, its the car that I see most resembles what a lot of the younger kids are interested in, which are high tech imports. That said, it may have missed its mark there, as the bulk of the comments I get on my Cobra, are from the 25 and under crowd. In their world, it might as well be a caveman witnessing his first campfire.

Either way, I am happy that the hobby will remain healthy, despite the choice of cars. I have a 16 year old kid neighbor just a few houses down from me that mods go karts with turbos and all kinds of crazy stuff. You can just see the wheels turning on how he's going to make it faster. He just bought a used 350Z to tinker with. Sadly, my son is not in that category, but there are enough out there.

Same, we just hired a 21 year old tech at work, he likes to tinker with motorcycles and built his own. He saw my screen saver (cradle shot) and started asking questions. I showed him some of your guys completed cars and the only 2 words that kept coming out of his mouth was “bad” and “***”.

Sexy is sexy.

[Jeff Kleiner]

"...A good portion of the kit assembly is more like building Ikea furniture than it is being a mechanic. You just gotta follow the steps..." <cringe>

Interestingly this exact topic came up when Frankeeski and I were having our weekly phone chat last Sunday. We both seem to be hearing from a surprising number of new Factory Five customers who find themselves perplexed/shocked/disappointed when they discover that things don't always follow the IKEA or Lego methods that they expected. As our pal Jeff Miller so accurately stated years ago "There is a difference between being an assembler and being a builder."

Jeff

[GoDadGo]

Interestingly this exact topic came up when Frankeeski and I were having our weekly phone chat last Sunday. We both seem to be hearing from a surprising number of new Factory Five customers who find themselves perplexed/shocked/disappointed when they discover that things don't always follow the IKEA or Lego methods that they expected.

As our pal Jeff Miller so accurately stated years ago "There is a difference between being an assembler and being a builder."

Jeff

Many of those projects seem to make their way to Ebay Motors where fit and finish issues clearly jump out at you.
Yes, the cars are together; however, there are often tons of fitment issues that are clearly seen.
Well-crafted cars seem to ooze with the builder's DNA and seldom sold.

[Dave 53]

I'm 57. To avoid the Boomer label, I got an 818S and wear jeans with rips in them.

[GoDadGo]

I'm 57. To avoid the Boomer label, I got an 818S and wear jeans with rips in them.

They've now renamed our age group (I'm 58) as Boomer II.
I assume that is because most of our fathers had come home from the Korean War.
That makes Gen-X Boomer III, Millenials, Boomer IV, and Gen Z Boomer V.

Gen Z........1997 – 2012 9 – 24
Millennials..1981 – 1996 25 – 40
Gen X........1965 – 1980 41 – 56
Boomers II.1955 – 1964 57 – 66
Boomers I..1946 – 1954 67 – 75
Post War....1928 – 1945 76 – 93
WW II........1922 – 1927 94 – 99

[idf]

I built my 818 5 years ago at the age of 71 because I fit the demographic. I also thought it would make a good garage mate to my other kit car, a 1958 Series 1 Lotus 7, the 40th sold. Glad to see both mentioned in the video.

[frankeeski]

Many of those projects seem to make their way to Ebay Motors where fit and finish issues clearly jump out at you.
Yes, the cars are together; however, there are often tons of fitment issues that are clearly seen.
Well-crafted cars seem to ooze with the builder's DNA and seldom sold.

Good or bad, many of those end up in my shop. In the end, the owners of those cars end up spending the same (if not more) having me get those cars to the level they originally thought the car was when they purchased them. I have one in my shop right now that fits that description. It too will be brought up to a better finished piece.

[John Ibele]

Fun thread. I graduated from high school in 1979, but amazingly I'm only 39. Seriously, I think the avatar shows my brain was wired for the roadster a long time ago, we all come at it in different ways.

Frank's solidly in the middle of Custom country, not so for many of the rest of us. Here's a youngster who grew up in west central Minnesota and somehow had a brain wired for early Porsches. Not trying to boost the guy, so much as point out someone on the younger side who got obsessed about our hobby, and has an appreciation for the history. And honors the craft that is custom building. Probably not many folks who understood him out there in farm country as he persevered. Hopefully for every fanatic like him, there are a bunch more folks his age who will be future FFR customers. In fact, maybe he inspires a bunch of folks his age, and they think, "If I don't have $250k to plunk down on a bespoke automobile, how could I spend a small fraction of that and end up with something just as cool, 'cause I built it?" ... there you go.

[GTBradley]

I never thought of Boomer as a bad thing, I mean we put men on the moon and nobody has been back. When the younger generations get people on Mars I’ll be impressed. I also think that the day these kits become easy will be the begging of the end. It’s the ingenuity, fabrication, effort and attention to detail that makes these cars valuable, you know, like going to the moon.

[CobraboyDR]

I'm a Boomer who never grew up. My next birthday cake will have a bunch of candles on it, but only 25 will get lit.

Think Calvin, without Hobbes...

[CobraboyDR]

Those Donut guys do have numerous really interesting videos...

[NiceGuyEddie]

I have always gotten LOADS more thumbs-up's from younger people than from boomers.

[FF33rod]

kinda funny he calls the Cobra "Boomery" because it's before his time but then in the "more interesting" section he's fine with the Caterham...
Overall though, not a bad video that could spark some interest in a newbie to the hobby

Steve