MARIAH
07-31-2013, 03:11 PM
Open Letter To Dave Smith….and ALL at Factory Five
MARIAH’s Nova Scotia Adventure 2013:
A simple Thank You seems such an inadequate acknowledgement of what MARIAH (your Roadster #3175) has meant to us over our 66,000 miles of service.
Kay and I just returned to the Upstate of South Carolina from a 13 day 3,984 mile adventure to Nova Scotia and wanted to offer that simple THANK YOU.
We could easily have driven the Subaru Forrester and it would have been an adequate vacation. But in the FFR, every outing becomes an Adventure. The destination was fabulous and the Cabot Trail and Nova Scotia was all that we expected. All should go!
Our previous adventures to Wisconsin, Key West, Cape Cod, LCS, Michigan and all over the Carolinas were just like this one…… only this one was more so as we realize in another 10 years of ownership we will be approaching our 80s. Our Road Trips go beyond the “destination” and become all about the “journey” with the Cobra and therein lies the Adventure. If we stopped a hundred times on this trip, at 80 of those we had conversations about your Roadster. Young, old and country of origin did not matter. The questions were always there. What is it? Is that a Healy. A 427? What’s the engine? How long did it take to build? You did that yourself? Is it fast? Does it use the Mustang frame?...........and of course our favorite…… Is it a real one?
We patiently answer every question while trying to eat, pump gas, photograph the views, check into motels, and on some trips set up the tent. Kay has become an expert herself in responding when I walk away and leave her with Cobra.
And of course it is about the cars of others.. Approaching Calais, Maine I tooted at an MGB as we passed a gas station. About two miles later up hill, I saw him coming fast and said to Kay, “That can’t be a 4 cylinder”. Well we stopped, and it was not. A ’69 MGB with a massive V8 and while stopped his local buddy with a turboed Viper had to stop and show me his car. There was the ’74 Valiant, the ’72 Dodge and the 51 Studebaker PU being hauled back to Ohio for resurrection.
Your Factory Five Family is alive and well in Nova Scotia and with the gracious invitation we had dinner with Peter (Roadster) and Ron (Coupe). I was thrilled and amazed to see their personal touches to make the cars their own. Following their Canadian builds will be my pleasure as they finish their versions………………
MARIAH (named after the song, not the Singer) is a 10 year old, donor build (88 GT). Carb, mechanical fuel pump, no PS, no PB, 5-speed but for convenience a heater, defrost, wipers, radio, Whitby Hardtop, Cobra Earl’s DEEP trunk, Don’s driving lights and our own luggage rack. She gave us a consistent 22 MPG at sustained 60+ MPH days. After 66,000 miles she is nicked, worn and not the most polished or babied girl around, but still a crowd pleaser as we go afield. More and more people now ask “ Is that a Factory Five?” Or will immediately recognize her as one. And of course when parked in some ritzy locations she is assumed to possibly be “real”.
For us, a main pleasure of driving our FFR comes in having folks experience her for themselves. Every child with a parent with a camera gets the invitation as well as adults to GET IN. We don’t keep records, but I expect on this trip there were 30 children and 9 adults who had their photos made from the driver seat. As we were leaving a Lobster Shack after dinner in Cheticamp a mother and 12 year old son pulled in beside us and the process began again. They had seen the car and just had to turn around and come back. We heard the mother’s car stories of the Datsun Fairlady of her youth and the two non-running Alpha Spiders her father has in the garage. For the son it was a photo and then I went to the trunk and pulled out my FFR Brochures and DVD and told him to “show them to your Grandfather”. Who knows, the Alphas might come to life and maybe a FFR down the road for a grandfather and his grandson to build together!
The Fundy Tides at Parrsboro, NS were the first interest for Kay and I and at that stop a group of 6-7 visiting Chinese men all took their turns at the wheel (one actually got to start her up so they could listen to the pipes). There was a French speaking lady of about 70 years of age who was SO excited as I used her SLR to take her photograph!
At the far northern end of Nova Scotia, is a 6 mile long dirt road leading to remote Meat Cove. Half way in, Kay and I stopped to take photos from the headland. TWO different cars stopped on that dirt road to ask about the FFR and take her photo. A young Chinese woman was so excited I had to take her photo. Unknown to us, she had taken our photo was we viewed the ocean. She e-mailed that photo a day later…………of all that trip’s photos it will be the only one showing us both. And there in is a memory. And the stories go on and on and on.
For record purposes, I should say a word or two about reliability. Family, friends and church members are astonished that we make these long trips with only a few tools and a AAA card. Aren't you scared? What it if breaks? Where is the spare tire? In our ten years of road service, the MSD box died two blocks from home and I now carry a plug-in harness to bypass the box should that happen on the road. At the end of another 2400 mile Adventure, the clutch cable separated at the Stop Sign 50 feet from our drive way. I now carry one of Forte’s magnificent spare cables in the trunk. On this trip, the Maintenance Log consisted of just ONE entry (Tightened four screws on Passenger Door Latch).
For the first two days up to NY we drove in the rain and drizzle. For the last three days from New England home we drove in 90+ heat. We’ve been hot, we’ve been wet and cold, we’ve been tired and sometimes exhausted after a 10 hour day on the road, but we’ve always been EXCITED when we get on the road in MARIAH. You helped us build a car that Kay can drive with ease four hours at a stretch. We’ve watched sunsets from some beautiful places, we’ve smelled the firs in New England, tasted Whiting in Michigan and scallops in Digby, NS, watched a drive in Movie in Wisconsin, road the only one car fresh water ferry still running North Carolina and enjoyed the peace of early morning drives. Along the ways we have met some wonderful folks and made a couple hundred children smile. We’ve made memories ..... because of YOU.
So Thank You for the idea those two young men began with. Thank You for the vision and strength to follow that dream. Thank You to the FFR Team for producing a product that Kay and I could turn into our own Magic Carpet.
Wait, wait…… one last story from this trip.
We parked on the street in Mahone, NS to walk down three doors to a shop. Upon returning the lady in front of whose store we had parked came out ALL excited. She wanted to know all about the car so she could tell her husband. I kneeled in the street to use her camera for the obligatory photo and had to stop some traffic to do so. A black SUV with two young men slowed and moved on and as we were finishing the conversation with the lady, the two men came hurrying back up the street with their camera and out of breath from the uphill climb. They asked Kay what it was and she proudly told them “It’s a Factory Five”. The camera guy responded….. “You mean I walked two blocks back up hill and it isn’t a Real One”? Kay didn’t answer. They turned and without a single photo of MARIAH went back to their car. Can the owners of Real One’s have this much fun?
Thank You, Factory Five!
20191201992019820197201962019520194201932019220200
See ya down the road..............
Phillip & Kay Deal,
MARIAH (#3175)
MARIAH’s Nova Scotia Adventure 2013:
A simple Thank You seems such an inadequate acknowledgement of what MARIAH (your Roadster #3175) has meant to us over our 66,000 miles of service.
Kay and I just returned to the Upstate of South Carolina from a 13 day 3,984 mile adventure to Nova Scotia and wanted to offer that simple THANK YOU.
We could easily have driven the Subaru Forrester and it would have been an adequate vacation. But in the FFR, every outing becomes an Adventure. The destination was fabulous and the Cabot Trail and Nova Scotia was all that we expected. All should go!
Our previous adventures to Wisconsin, Key West, Cape Cod, LCS, Michigan and all over the Carolinas were just like this one…… only this one was more so as we realize in another 10 years of ownership we will be approaching our 80s. Our Road Trips go beyond the “destination” and become all about the “journey” with the Cobra and therein lies the Adventure. If we stopped a hundred times on this trip, at 80 of those we had conversations about your Roadster. Young, old and country of origin did not matter. The questions were always there. What is it? Is that a Healy. A 427? What’s the engine? How long did it take to build? You did that yourself? Is it fast? Does it use the Mustang frame?...........and of course our favorite…… Is it a real one?
We patiently answer every question while trying to eat, pump gas, photograph the views, check into motels, and on some trips set up the tent. Kay has become an expert herself in responding when I walk away and leave her with Cobra.
And of course it is about the cars of others.. Approaching Calais, Maine I tooted at an MGB as we passed a gas station. About two miles later up hill, I saw him coming fast and said to Kay, “That can’t be a 4 cylinder”. Well we stopped, and it was not. A ’69 MGB with a massive V8 and while stopped his local buddy with a turboed Viper had to stop and show me his car. There was the ’74 Valiant, the ’72 Dodge and the 51 Studebaker PU being hauled back to Ohio for resurrection.
Your Factory Five Family is alive and well in Nova Scotia and with the gracious invitation we had dinner with Peter (Roadster) and Ron (Coupe). I was thrilled and amazed to see their personal touches to make the cars their own. Following their Canadian builds will be my pleasure as they finish their versions………………
MARIAH (named after the song, not the Singer) is a 10 year old, donor build (88 GT). Carb, mechanical fuel pump, no PS, no PB, 5-speed but for convenience a heater, defrost, wipers, radio, Whitby Hardtop, Cobra Earl’s DEEP trunk, Don’s driving lights and our own luggage rack. She gave us a consistent 22 MPG at sustained 60+ MPH days. After 66,000 miles she is nicked, worn and not the most polished or babied girl around, but still a crowd pleaser as we go afield. More and more people now ask “ Is that a Factory Five?” Or will immediately recognize her as one. And of course when parked in some ritzy locations she is assumed to possibly be “real”.
For us, a main pleasure of driving our FFR comes in having folks experience her for themselves. Every child with a parent with a camera gets the invitation as well as adults to GET IN. We don’t keep records, but I expect on this trip there were 30 children and 9 adults who had their photos made from the driver seat. As we were leaving a Lobster Shack after dinner in Cheticamp a mother and 12 year old son pulled in beside us and the process began again. They had seen the car and just had to turn around and come back. We heard the mother’s car stories of the Datsun Fairlady of her youth and the two non-running Alpha Spiders her father has in the garage. For the son it was a photo and then I went to the trunk and pulled out my FFR Brochures and DVD and told him to “show them to your Grandfather”. Who knows, the Alphas might come to life and maybe a FFR down the road for a grandfather and his grandson to build together!
The Fundy Tides at Parrsboro, NS were the first interest for Kay and I and at that stop a group of 6-7 visiting Chinese men all took their turns at the wheel (one actually got to start her up so they could listen to the pipes). There was a French speaking lady of about 70 years of age who was SO excited as I used her SLR to take her photograph!
At the far northern end of Nova Scotia, is a 6 mile long dirt road leading to remote Meat Cove. Half way in, Kay and I stopped to take photos from the headland. TWO different cars stopped on that dirt road to ask about the FFR and take her photo. A young Chinese woman was so excited I had to take her photo. Unknown to us, she had taken our photo was we viewed the ocean. She e-mailed that photo a day later…………of all that trip’s photos it will be the only one showing us both. And there in is a memory. And the stories go on and on and on.
For record purposes, I should say a word or two about reliability. Family, friends and church members are astonished that we make these long trips with only a few tools and a AAA card. Aren't you scared? What it if breaks? Where is the spare tire? In our ten years of road service, the MSD box died two blocks from home and I now carry a plug-in harness to bypass the box should that happen on the road. At the end of another 2400 mile Adventure, the clutch cable separated at the Stop Sign 50 feet from our drive way. I now carry one of Forte’s magnificent spare cables in the trunk. On this trip, the Maintenance Log consisted of just ONE entry (Tightened four screws on Passenger Door Latch).
For the first two days up to NY we drove in the rain and drizzle. For the last three days from New England home we drove in 90+ heat. We’ve been hot, we’ve been wet and cold, we’ve been tired and sometimes exhausted after a 10 hour day on the road, but we’ve always been EXCITED when we get on the road in MARIAH. You helped us build a car that Kay can drive with ease four hours at a stretch. We’ve watched sunsets from some beautiful places, we’ve smelled the firs in New England, tasted Whiting in Michigan and scallops in Digby, NS, watched a drive in Movie in Wisconsin, road the only one car fresh water ferry still running North Carolina and enjoyed the peace of early morning drives. Along the ways we have met some wonderful folks and made a couple hundred children smile. We’ve made memories ..... because of YOU.
So Thank You for the idea those two young men began with. Thank You for the vision and strength to follow that dream. Thank You to the FFR Team for producing a product that Kay and I could turn into our own Magic Carpet.
Wait, wait…… one last story from this trip.
We parked on the street in Mahone, NS to walk down three doors to a shop. Upon returning the lady in front of whose store we had parked came out ALL excited. She wanted to know all about the car so she could tell her husband. I kneeled in the street to use her camera for the obligatory photo and had to stop some traffic to do so. A black SUV with two young men slowed and moved on and as we were finishing the conversation with the lady, the two men came hurrying back up the street with their camera and out of breath from the uphill climb. They asked Kay what it was and she proudly told them “It’s a Factory Five”. The camera guy responded….. “You mean I walked two blocks back up hill and it isn’t a Real One”? Kay didn’t answer. They turned and without a single photo of MARIAH went back to their car. Can the owners of Real One’s have this much fun?
Thank You, Factory Five!
20191201992019820197201962019520194201932019220200
See ya down the road..............
Phillip & Kay Deal,
MARIAH (#3175)