First F9 Forum Thread: ALL NEW Factory Five Carbon Body VIDEO!

[David Hodgkins]

Welcome to the NEW Factory Five F9 Forum, celebrating the ALL NEW F9!

To celebrate, and mark this auspicious occasion, here is the JUST RELEASED VIDEO of the ALL NEW F9 FULL CARBON BODY!

[flynntuna]

Thumbs up! Gorgeous

[65 Cobra Dude]

Can’t wait to see it in person!!!

[thebicman]

Curious why it looks like its filmed in China.

[MSumners]

I was thinking coupe next but may have to reconsider. Awesome.

[wallace18]

Wow!

[Aircontroller]

If someone scratches that body, how do you get it fixed with that kind of carbon fiber paint job?

[CraigS]

Can we get another video taken in landscape orientation and maybe a little further away. The details look great but I'd like to see what the overall shape looks like.

[Straversi]

Well now, that’s exciting!
-Steve

[Jeff Kleiner]

Curious why it looks like its filmed in China.

Because that’s where this prototype was made and where the production body will come from.

Jeff

[Cobradavid]

Because that’s where this prototype was made and where the production body will come from.

Jeff

Hmmm. Gotta admit, that's a bit disappointing. As GoDadGo suggests, are there no domestic suppliers with similar quality and cost?

[KDubU]

Looks really nice! Unfortunate about being made in China but that seems to be the way for a lot of things.

[FF33rod]

Hmmm. Gotta admit, that's a bit disappointing. As GoDadGo suggests, are there no domestic suppliers with similar quality and cost?

Unless you can find a really good shop in a very rural part of the US staffed by people making minimum wage or less then you might come close but it will still be more expensive.

We design and sell rugged high quality automotive/industrial grade battery chargers. They are manufactured for us in China by a US company with US headquarters but with mfg facilities all over the world. We are now subject to the wonderful tariffs, about 80% of our sales are into the US and we are cost sharing the tariffs with those customers at the moment. As we debated what to do, we polled some of those customers about cost sensitivity and about how they "valued" a US manufactured product. The summary is they could care less where it was made it had to cost as little as possible. We basically had 2 choices, move to Malaysia with a couple of % rise in costs but likely inferior quality for some time and more complicated logistics or move to Mexico with a 5% uptick in cost. We still need the custom component supply base in China though. If we moved the custom component sourcing (connectors, plastics, metal castings, transformers, etc) to North America we'd be out of business...

I'm not picking on the US, here in Canada it's really no different...

Steve

[bil1024]

Unless you can find a really good shop in a very rural part of the US staffed by people making minimum wage or less then you might come close but it will still be more expensive.

We design and sell rugged high quality automotive/industrial grade battery chargers. They are manufactured for us in China by a US company with US headquarters but with mfg facilities all over the world. We are now subject to the wonderful tariffs, about 80% of our sales are into the US and we are cost sharing the tariffs with those customers at the moment. As we debated what to do, we polled some of those customers about cost sensitivity and about how they "valued" a US manufactured product. The summary is they could care less where it was made it had to cost as little as possible. We basically had 2 choices, move to Malaysia with a couple of % rise in costs but likely inferior quality for some time and more complicated logistics or move to Mexico with a 5% uptick in cost. We still need the custom component supply base in China though. If we moved the custom component sourcing (connectors, plastics, metal castings, transformers, etc) to North America we'd be out of business...

I'm not picking on the US, here in Canada it's really no different...

Steve

You hit the head on the nail, the tariffs are not helping anyone or bringing many jobs back, unless we cut the pay for US labor, which will not happen

[lance corsi]

Paying a little more to buy American isn’t going to stop people from their projects, but it will support others in the US who manufacture goods and expect to sell them. The more people who buy American, the faster our manufacturing base will rebuild. American products are better quality and better designed. Try thinking of something other than yourself when you purchase something.

[Cobradavid]

Welcome to the NEW Factory Five F9 Forum, celebrating the ALL NEW F9!

To celebrate, and mark this auspicious occasion, here is the JUST RELEASED VIDEO of the ALL NEW F9 FULL CARBON BODY!

Also gotta admit, it looks GREAT!


Happy Easter, everyone!
David

[thebicman]

I'm not an American, I am Canadian. If I can purchase a product built in Canada I will support my country. When I bought my MK3 there was no Canadian companies making a quality cobra kit. It was a very good feeling that I was buying a product that was built by Americans with American materials. When I went to Factory Five Dave made a strong point that he is very proud all his steel was American product. I understand there is other parts required to build a car but why would he out source, out of country, what he designed.

[RoadRacer]

One huge advantage (for us) of a carbon body is that it has to be perfect!! No filling or sanding can be done. When're the carbon bodies for the rest of the lineup coming?

[KDubU]

Good point on the CB body. Would there be absolutely no body work at all? What about paint? I’m a CB newbie.

[Hobby Racer]

Good point on the CB body. Would there be absolutely no body work at all? What about paint? I’m a CB newbie.

You could paint it if you did not like the exposed CB look, but being finished in clear coat the body should be good to go!

[Duke]

Chinese? No thanks. I've been impacted enough with their recent Covid virus. I'd pay a few K more for Made in USA. I'm in a Boycott China at the moment both personally and in my business.

[Chris @ Forma]

I love made in the USA, however, if no one could afford to buy it at a price where FFR could make a profit, then they would not be able to invest the many thousands of dollars it cost to develop a new product. I have been in manufacturing for over 40 years and still make products here. That being said, I am forced to buy some parts off shore. Sometimes driven by price, sometimes because it is no longer made here, and sometimes just because it is easier to deal with the offshore manufacturers than stubborn manufacturers in the US. I am currently developing an HVAC system for a specialized application and wanted to purchase the evaporator core from a US manufacturer. I contacted 3 US manufacturers that made a similar product. All three refused to sell to me because they thought I might somehow compete against them. I explained that if they made what I needed then I wouldn't be developing a system. Regardless they all refused to sell me the evaporator cores at $120/ea (I was ready to buy 50 pieces. Instead I ended up buying 100 pieces in China for $47 each delivered. I didn't want to do this but needed a solution.

[abdw-wcw]

You hit the head on the nail, the tariffs are not helping anyone or bringing many jobs back, unless we cut the pay for US labor, which will not happen

bil1024: Wrong. The tariffs are doing exactly as they were planned to do. Pressure the Chinese economy. If you really think they aren't driving jobs back to the US, you need to turn off MSNBC. Manufacturing is leaving China at a fast rate. Even before this Chinese virus.

FF33rod: Also wrong. I buy transformers, injection molded plastic housing, circuit boards, etc for China as well. About twenty 40' containers per day. You talk about the higher cost in different countries...I agree. But if you can't see that China is 'on sale' right now, you need better sourcing people. We have recovered nearly 100% of the tariff costs in price concessions from our suppliers. They knew, if they didn't come down, the work was moving elsewhere. The tariffs had had little to no impact on us, and we too are in a highly competitive industry where price matters. Just negotiate better. Play hard ball.

[crash]

Holy smokes...enough about the China crap. I make small run bodies out of fiberglass here in the US. It is not an easy thing. Especially here in CA. Most of my stuff comes from out of state due to environmental restrictions...and the costs are NOT CHEAP.

That body looks FANTASTIC. Can't wait to see one in person.

[Presto51]

You could paint it if you did not like the exposed CB look, but being finished in clear coat the body should be good to go!

Good point on the CB body. Would there be absolutely no body work at all? What about paint? I’m a CB newbie.

Also if you don't like the exposed Carbon Fiber look, with a very smooth/perfect body, you can do a wrap on it as well.

Ron

[Jake From State Farm]

American products are better quality and better designed.

An American flag hanging over the building is not a prerequisite to designing quality products. While we may associate cheaply made garbage with China, there are many factories there that produce quality products at a very competitive price. At the same time, there are many American companies that produce sub-par products at a terrible price. The country is not nearly as important as the people doing the work.

[CDXXVII]

So much for the first F9 forum thread. I came here to read about an interesting new offering at Factory Five Racing.

All I found is a bunch of guys Trolling each other.

What a shame!! ��

[Jake From State Farm]

So much for the first F9 forum thread. I came here to read about an interesting new offering at Factory Five Racing.

All I found is a bunch of guys Trolling each other.

What a shame!! ��

I may or may not be thinking about that carbon body work instead of the lady on the next date night.

[Quincy]

How does a date work with social distance?

[ibpilot]

Steve,

Thanks for clarifying the issue. Of course I think most of us understand that even a few dollars cost increase changes everything. I do think the problem isn't China...it's the United States and our incentives given to China to grow their manufacturing and supply chains to become the powerhouse they are. Nixon started it. It can be fixed with the right policies that apply to our own hemisphere. Heck we have Mexico and other South American countries just south begging for that type of work. We can incentives them and at least help closer to home.

I gotta admit though that the F9 looks AMAZING! And having a carbon fiber body is something very unique and is a real standout. I'm looking forward to seeing a completed one.

[The Stig]

I agree Mike.

Dave could have had the molds built to fabricate these in Fiberglass again, and everyone would complain about the fit and finish.

And then when he answers the concerns of the high cost of body work, as well as fit and finish, people find more reasons to complain.

This process was started long before Covid and the shut down. Otherwise you would not be seeing the finished product video.

This body looks incredible! There are manufacturers who don't make bodies that are this nice.

I think that we should back off a bit, and appreciate the effort involved for what is being provided by Dave and the crew at Factory 5.

I sure like what I see. It took me about a minute to see a complete picture in my head.

Give it a chance guys.

Mike

[lance corsi]

Ill give it a chance. It’s an intriguing design and has good looks at most any angle. As far as the CF body is concerned, time will tell. Decoupling with China may quash that deal. I do know that the CF work on most supercars is a significant amount of the total cost, but in most cases where the CF is being used as a structural element, it requires significant engineering and strict quality standards.