Good day for Factory Five

I am pleased to see we will have more options in the next few years. Should be fun in a few years.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/12/08/transportation-bill-unlocks-new-american-car-industry/?intcmp=hpff

That's a good bill. These are good manufacturing jobs, and while it's not a lot, any are good.

That's very cool indeed.

The bit about emissions certified engine components has my interest. I'm wondering if one of these small guys works out a deal with one of the big boys to get something besides the Chevy V8.

I did think there were some other engine packages available, though. Is the article correct?

How are non replica cars like the exocert affected?

They're not. The bill was written for the Cobra guys, so those of us with more interesting vehicles don't benefit.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

It also applies to the companies that are now reproducing complete vintage bodies and frames. This allows those companies to build complete cars.

So that means Dynacorn can build complete cars? That's awesome.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to Keith Tanner: It also applies to the companies that are now reproducing complete vintage bodies and frames. This allows those companies to build complete cars.

Well, yes. Throwbacks only.

yep, but now plausibly you will be able to go out and buy a new MGA, or a new 1964 ferrari, or aston, or 65 mustang, or 69 GTO, etc.

Awweeessooomme.

Actually, who wants to start a company with me? We will look at auction values and only produce cars that sell for more than 1 mil at auction. Should be an easy sell to sell a brand new version at 100k.

this opens up a lot of Seven replicas too.. possibly even the really hot rod ones from the UK

Kinda sucks its only throwback cars. Wish it covered any small time manufacturers

Robbie wrote: Actually, who wants to start a company with me? We will look at auction values and only produce cars that sell for more than 1 mil at auction. Should be an easy sell to sell a brand new version at 100k.

But it may cost $200k to make, when you factor in all of the hand work that goes into the car.

alfadriver wrote:

Robbie wrote: Actually, who wants to start a company with me? We will look at auction values and only produce cars that sell for more than 1 mil at auction. Should be an easy sell to sell a brand new version at 100k.

But it may cost $200k to make, when you factor in all of the hand work that goes into the car.

Then we will only target cars that go for 5M at auction and sell for 500k. I would imagine it would be best to start with just one or two really desirable models to keep it simple at first.

"The bill was written for the Cobra guys, so those of us with more interesting vehicles don't benefit."

EXACTLY ! ! !

A version of this bill was pushed through here in Massachusetts (Factory Five's home base) and it REAKED ! ! ! Screwed up all of the hot rod "passes" that were already allowed and brought a white hot spotlight where everyone wanted to keep things low key and out of the public eye.

Gotta say that Factory Five pretty much sucks when it comes to pushing legislation (via SEMA) that benefits them and NOBODY else ! ! ! ! ! !

Ask ANYONE in Massachusetts what they think of the recent SEMA legislation in specific and Factory Five in general and you'll get a nice big fat ration of $#it ! ! !

In reply to Robbie:

On the tangent- you have to be careful with the undercut- asking $500k for a car that sells for even $1M makes one think that the $500k on maybe a POS. As for $4.8M.

alfadriver wrote: In reply to Robbie: On the tangent- you have to be careful with the undercut- asking $500k for a car that sells for even $1M makes one think that the $500k on maybe a POS. As for $4.8M.

Certainly true, but cobra replicas still sell for a butt-ton of money, even if that is nowhere close to the amount that a real cobra brings. Sure, some cobra replicas are POS, but not all of them are.

Robbie wrote: Actually, who wants to start a company with me? We will look at auction values and only produce cars that sell for more than 1 mil at auction. Should be an easy sell to sell a brand new version at 100k.

I'm not sure how easy it is to make a buck at this - the total labor involved in building a quality replica is quite high. The people buying these cars (the real ones) and pushing values through the roof are mostly doing so for investment purposes or the prestige of owning an ultra-rare collectible--neither of those will motivate sales of replicas. And there are already players in this space, such as Race Car Replicas, Bailey Cars, WerkzCars, TWRR/Realm Engineering, Evanta Motor Co, A.S. Motorsport, Eagle... and that's not even including the Ferrari replica outfits.

There's a little article in the newest Classic Motorsports on a company that makes very accurate Porsche 550 Spyder replicas. They start at $100k, IIRC. I can't recall the name of the company, but maybe someone else will chime in with that. In any case, my assumption is that the make money at it.

bravenrace wrote: There's a little article in the newest Classic Motorsports on a company that makes very accurate Porsche 550 Spyder replicas. They start at $100k, IIRC. I can't recall the name of the company, but maybe someone else will chime in with that. In any case, my assumption is that the make money at it.

Beck most likely

Robbie wrote: Actually, who wants to start a company with me? We will look at auction values and only produce cars that sell for more than 1 mil at auction. Should be an easy sell to sell a brand new version at 100k.

You would have to be careful with Trademark/IP laws. Ferrari has been known to sue makers of replicas and even get cars repossessed and crushed, for example.

This has to be great news for Caterham and probably Westfield. It seems like an opening for a good E type replica as well.

So when will some one start making a ready to go 1990 GTA

Keep in mind that there are emissions regs involved before you get too excited about things like Seven and Jaguar replicas.

From the SEMA press release:

Those turn-key cars would be required to meet current model-year emissions standards. In order to comply with this provision, the bill would allow low-volume manufacturers to install engines already certified for equivalent vehicle configurations by the large automakers, along with an onboard diagnostics (OBD) system. Although this is already permitted, current law requires the companies to then retest the engines and submit volumes of duplicate paperwork to the EPA.

If they have to transfer over the entire OBD-II system, that pretty much means that only the CARB-certified E-Rod packages from GM could be used. Nothing wrong with that if you're doing old Chevy replicas or Cobras, a bit awkward if you're doing Mustangs, and not really an option if you're doing vintage Porsches.

If you want to see very directed kit car legislation, check out the Atom loophole in Oregon. It basically describes the Atom without naming it, and gives it a special exemption.