Phil's Anniversary Roadster build!

[David Hodgkins]

(I changed the title of this thread... It might become the build thread for my brother Phil's 15th Anniversary build)

I'm excited, and it's not even my car!

My brother just got the news that the Stewart truck will be delivering his new MKIV TONIGHT ~ 9pm! I'm 60 miles away but I'm thinking about braving the LA traffic to go up and witness the delivery.

I can't wait to see his baby, and that silver frame. I bet it's gonna look SWEET

Pics (of course) to follow, whether they are mine or his!

Woot!

:)

[Kc_Shane]

Pics (of course) to follow, whether they are mine or his!
:)

You know the drill!! Step away from the computer and go help and don't forget the six pack of beer.

[frankeeski]

I'm not sure who is more excited Dave, You or your brother. Congrats to you both. Frank

[David Hodgkins]

Decided to drive up to LA. I'll post pics tonight!

:)

[riptide motorsport]

cool beans!

[LuckyWinner]

Take a pic of the wheels too. I cant wait to get mine, I think they say I have number 14. I will be the last to pick up and its driving me crazy!!!! Take lots of pics and sooner or later we can compare 15year Specials at Huntington Beach when we are both through.

[astglenn]

I did not know that your bro was joining the ranks. Congratulations!

[Jeff Kleiner]

I'll post pics tonight!



It's way past "tonight" David! Quit holding out on us.:p

Jeff

[Indy14]

Remember, pictures or it didn't happen.

[David Hodgkins]

Sorry guys, my son took off to school with the pics! Hopefully he'll send them to me soon.

Right off the bat though, I gotta say, the frame is unbelievable. The silver powder coating looks like it was finished with a coat of clear. and is just BEAUTIFUL!

I promise (again), pics soon!

:)

[Mad Dog]

Sure Dave, blame it on your son! :p

Have fun with the build! Can't wait to see the photos.

[Jeff Kleiner]

pics soon!



Yeah, sure. Like we haven't heard that before.

Jeff

[ClemsonS197]

http://forums.mathewsinc.com/images/userpix/14510_This_post_is_worthless_2.jpg

[David]

Congrats Dave and Bro! Really looking forward to following the build.

David

[3kcarbon]

We are all spooled up looking for pictures.... puhleeeze.

[68GT500MAN]

David, You and your brother could bring it to HB in whatever stage of assembly it is in to show all!
Doug

[3kcarbon]

Where are the pictures.... :)

[Jeff Kleiner]

I'd say the lack of pictures after 48 hours makes it official...Mr. Hodgkins was blowing smoke up our collective @$$#$. Go ahead David; prove me wrong :p

Jeff

[David Hodgkins]

OK, I suck.

Here you go, but they aren't that good. Sorry for the wait! I'm going over to Phil's house tomorrow to do inventory and PROMISE to post some decent pics!!!

Anyway, here are the first pics for Phil's anni Roadster:

http://ffroadster.com/images/15thAnniBuild/imagejpeg_10.jpg

http://ffroadster.com/images/15thAnniBuild/imagejpeg_2.jpg

http://ffroadster.com/images/15thAnniBuild/imagejpeg_2_2.jpg

http://ffroadster.com/images/15thAnniBuild/imagejpeg_5_2.jpg

http://ffroadster.com/images/15thAnniBuild/imagejpeg_7_2.jpg

I know, I know, VERY anticlimactic!! But as you can see in the last pic, the highlight is the Silver frame.

I'm taking a decent camera tomorrow to get pics of the gauges, frame, rear end, etc.

:)

[LuckyWinner]

Take pictures of the 15year wheels, the upgraded coilovers, and the upgraded brakes....Please?!?!?!?!?!?!

[David Hodgkins]

The wheels weren't delivered with the kit, but I'll make sure to take some pics of the brakes and shocks.

I bet you're chomping at the bit now!!

:)

[vnmsss]

Woo! Hoo!!! You guys will have that baby done by HB, right? ;)

Karen

[first time builder]

Are there special 15th Ani Emblems ?

Kenny

[Gopher]

Just got home from picking my anniversary car 2166 miles in 3 days where's my pillow. I'll start drooling tomorrow.

[David Hodgkins]

Yesterday (Sunday) was inventory day. Marcel (Lmmargheritis) is a new local builder who is waiting for his own 15 year car and we invited him to help us do the inventory.

The day started out very gloomy but the local doppler radar said it was clearing up so my son Grant and I hopped in my roadster for the 60 mile drive up to Encino. Well, it turned out that not ALL the rain clouds had passed through so i go my first experience with driving in the rain. 1st tip: keep the speed up! We werelucky in that the traffic was light so i didn't have to worry about spray from other cars. One funny thing I noticed was that the rain that actually made it into the cockpit came in from the rear! I'd love to see a roadster in a wind tunnel some time. I bet there's quite a vortex that forms over the cocpit area!

Anyway, the rain was only sporatic and light so it wasn't that big of an issue. We arrived at Phil's house and decided we'de grab a quick bite first before tearing into the inventory, as that would give the skies another hour to clear. We arranged for Marcel to meet us at the house and when we returned from lunch he was waiting for us. After introductions, we tore into the boxes. We elected to not count every bolt, but were still faily thorough in doing the inventory. The following pics are some of the goodies we unpacked. Despite how they look in the photos, everything was wrapped and packeged properly...

The Ron Francis wiring harness. I did the I^2 thing last time; this will be my first crack at "real" wiring. The harness looks quite complete! I can't wait for this part of the build, as it will be the most eduactional for me:

http://ffroadster.com/images/15thAnniBuild/IMG_1273%20[800x600].jpg

The Anniversary edition gauge set: purdy...

http://ffroadster.com/images/15thAnniBuild/IMG_1274%20[800x600].jpg

The UCA's and the MASSIVE build manual. I'll tell you right now, this is completely different than the MKIII manual I had to work with!! This is no beer coaster, my friends. It's close to 600 pages!

http://ffroadster.com/images/15thAnniBuild/IMG_1277%20[800x600].jpg

The embossed Mosler rear end:

http://ffroadster.com/images/15thAnniBuild/IMG_1280%20[800x600].jpg

A closer look at one end of the axle housing. There really isn't a good way to capture how nice this looks in person! FFR used a two stage process for this. The first coat is Silver, and then they came back and clear-coated it. The look is SWEET!:

http://ffroadster.com/images/15thAnniBuild/IMG_1281%20[800x600].jpg

The engine bay. This BEAUTIFUL bay is going to be augmented by a FMS BOSS 427. I'm jealous already...

http://ffroadster.com/images/15thAnniBuild/IMG_1287%20[800x600].jpg

There are back ordered items. Wheels, shocks and the rollbar are the biggies. Nothing that prevents us from diving into the build however. One thing that is interesting is that the frame number is a "standard" number. It leaves me wondering how the anni builds will be distinguished from a regular build, other than color and badging, which can be replicated. I'm hoping that the anni frames will be in one block of numbers at least. More on that curiosity later...

Thanks again to Marcel, who helped us with the inventory check. He has a few interesting pics of his own; I hope he sees this thread and posts them. One pic in particular is quite funny, I'll leave it to him to detail the circumstance.

Enjoy!

[Gopher]

When I picked up mine Saturday Dave said you won't be able to buy the badging without sending one back the powder coat only they have the code for just to try to keep people from cloning a anniversary car. Will it work only time will tell. I thought the Frame numbers would have been different too.He also said all the anniversary frames were built in a row so I would think they would be sequencial.

[LuckyWinner]

I didnt know there was a Anniversary edition gauge set!!!! Sweet. What about the front and rear brakes? How long did they say it would take to get your coil overs and wheels? My mouth is watering.....does anyone own a time machine i can barrow??? When the doors were on, how did they line up?