Archive for the ‘Karen Salvaggio’ Tag
Overcast skies and 10 percent chance of rain, after months of drought conditions….
The Pre-Party
A generous tradition started by David Hodgkins. Here is our host at the BBQ, working hard to feed all of the guests. I met one of the Car Warriors builders from the East Coast Team, Mark Stackler.
David Hodgkins, our generous host of the HB Cruise-In Pre-Party
Another guest at the Pre-Party was Scott Merrell of Coupe Connection. He talked about the 8-stack induction system fitted on a Ford Coyote engine. Very interesting, and I may use that engine in my next project car.
The Event
More gray skies, but no mention in the forecast of rain. As usual for me, my focus was to gather as much info about Coupes as possible, so I can apply these ideas into my car project.
Also as usual, I had to look at all the other Factory Five Racing kit cars on display.
I noticed more completed 33 Hot Rods this year and more Coupes.
Highlights of the Day
I met and discussed body and paint with Jeff “Da Bat” Miller in the early morning. He has probably put the final finish on hundreds of Factory Five Racing cars over the years. Da Bat was the Body and Paint expert for the West Coast team on the Car Warriors Factory Five Hot Rod challenge.
I was lucky to meet and hang out with Karen Salvaggio and Jo Coddington as we visited with the builders and the cars on display. Karen and Jo were two members of the five lady team on the “All Girls Build” episode on Power Nation. The other ladies were Nan Gelhard, Cherielynn Westrich and Courtnie Provencher.
Here’s a picture of Karen on the left with Jo on the right. And that’s Sue from Just Get Dirty Garage in the middle. Sally Bean, one of the behind the scenes people from Factory Five, is in the background, making sure things are going as planned…..
Factory Five Racing Ladies
Factory Five Racing president Dave Smith introduces Jo Coddington to the crowd.
Meeting Peter Brock, BRE Racing
Peter Brock, the body designer of the Daytona Coupe, came to Huntington Beach for this event. I have several of Peter’s historical posters on my walls, but I wanted to meet him in person. Peter is a nice guy, and he truly loves the Factory Five Racing version of the famous Ferrari-killer from 1965.
Factory Five Racing president Dave Smith (right) introducing Peter Brock to the Cruise-In crowd. There’s Mark Stackler in the background.
The Fastest Factory Five Racing Coupe in the World
On display was the SoFast Racing Factory Five Racing Type 65 Coupe. This kit car holds a land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Allen Grant was there to sign autographs and display the car.
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The fastest Factory Five Racing Type 65 Coupe and land speed record holder.
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Watch this in-car video: Ride Along 200+ MPH Coupe at Bonneville
GoPro Videos
I made a few “walk around” videos with my new GoPro Hero 3. The footage is raw and needs some editing. I will post some after I do some editing.
Just as the event was ending, it started to rain. It was only a few minutes, but it managed to get stuff wet. I guess we can call it a California rainstorm. The local weather reports did not report any rainfall….
Here are some more pictures of this great annual event. Someday my Coupe will be there, too!
The lead photo for this entry is Erik Hansen’ electric 818 cockpit. It is in “go kart” stage (a work in-progress), without a body. Click here to read Erik’s Electric 818 build blog.
By the way, Erik Hansen was part of the West Coast Team in the show “Car Warriors” in which a team of West Coast car builders competed against an East Coast team. They had to build a Factory Five ’33 Hot Rod in 48 hours. Amazing. Click here to learn more details about this competition
I spent most of the day at the 7th Annual Factory Five Cruise-In. It was great to see some of the builder/owners from the previous year, and I also met a lot of builders for the first time. I even met several of the Factory Five staff, including Scott “Honey Badger” Bell; Jim Schenck, Director of R and D; Tony Zullo, Tech Manager; and Sally Bean, Marketing at Factory Five, who does a ton of work behind the scenes of these great get-togethers.
Two cars were un-veiled today:
First, an “All-Women 427 Build Team” Factory Five Racing Roadster. The ladies built the car in one week. The build story will be on PowerNation’s “Detroit Muscle” TV in May.
Second, a special, limited edition Hot Rod magazine ’33 Hot Rod. Only 33 of these will be made, and for the first time, Factory Five will be selling the 33 ‘33s as fully-built cars. Two engines will be offered, a monster Ford engine, shown here, and a Chevy engine. I do not recall the details, but I will post them here as an update as soon as I can verify the information.
This year, I planned to gather as much information and pictures on the Type 65 Coupe, since I am always looking for ideas to include in my car. But – with so many beautiful Roadsters on display, I had to look at those closely, too.
Here are some random images from the great car show!
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — April 27, 2013 — Huntington Beach Pier Plaza and Main Street were filled with car enthusiasts and their hand-built sport cars from 9 am to 4 pm today. This was the sixth annual Factory Five Racing Huntington Beach Cruise-In which included over 100 Factory Five Racing cars, each one custom hand-built. Other custom and street cars were also on display, and included a vintage Chevrolet Corvette, and Ford GT.
Factory Five Racing is located in Wareham, MA and currently offers five component car kits, the Mk4 Roadster, the Type 65 Coupe, a classic ’33 Hot Rod, the GTM Supercar and the newest model called Project 818. Pricing varies depending on the kit configuration and accessories and options. In addition to the kit, builders supply their own engine, transmission, wheels and tires and finish and paint.
Dave Smith, president of Factory Five Racing, is a hands-on guy, and is involved in every aspect of his company… and is the friendliest person you’ll ever meet. He loves talking about his – and our – cars, and Dave says every time he meets people at these gatherings, he learns something new from each builder.
More information is available on the Factory Five Racing website, www.factoryfive.com
My mission at this year’s event: To gather more information on the E-brake cable routing, look at paint color combinations and get some more ideas for dashboard layouts.
I had always planned on a white body/black or blue stripe Coupe, but after seeing these other paint jobs, I may change my mind. LED headlamps, cool-looking switch name plates, BRE side mirrors for the Coupe, honeycomb (hexagonal hole) screen for the side vents and other ideas are shown in these photos.
Thanks to everyone displaying and explaining and answering my questions about their cars today, and it was great to meet the Southern California – and other area – builders in person at this event.
Here are some random images from today . . .
Above – Dave Smith, Factory Five Racing president, telling another great car story. . . Karen Salvaggio, Thunder Valley Racing Owner (and driver of the Type 65 Coupe number 28), signing my “signature plate” that will be mounted on my Type 65 Coupe dashboard – this will fill that big blank spot nicely. Take a look at Karen’s website and her blog posts for more informaton on her team and the cars they race. www.thundervalleyracing.com and http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/entry.php?346-Coupe-Challenge-Building-a-Legend
Anyone know what this hole is for on the Roadster exhaust?
wayneyoshidakh6wz 