It is hard to know what causes passion. Was it the fact that my father was keen on cars? Was it that he had been a motor racing driver just after the war? Was that he took me to watch motor races as a boy? Was it that my father was friends with Mike Hawthorn, who was going out with a girl that lived just down the road from us, so he often popped in to say hello?
Who knows?
All I know is that I loved cars from about the age of 2 and apparently could tell one from another quite easily by then! What I do remember was that my father had a regular subscription to Autocar magazine and one day they carried out a roadtest of an AC Cobra. It had the fastest 0 – 60 time of any car they had ever tested, a record which stayed for something like 20 years thereafter.
So when I grew up, there was only one car that I ever dreamed about – that AC Cobra.
As with most people, there were other priorities – marriage, children, career changes and house moves. It wasn’t until 1991 that the real prospect of building an AC Cobra replica started to dawn, when a work colleague and I agreed to share the costs of the project and the ownership of the car.
We went to the National Kit Car Show at Stoneleigh that year and toured the stands of all the Cobra Replica manufacturers, although there was really only one that really appealed to me.
Unfortunately, my work colleague moved 100 miles away for a career opportunity, so the practicalities of working together moved with him. Our house at that time had no garage and no space to build one, so the project went on hold.
In 1999, we moved house for a combination of business and family reasons to one that had a perfect spot for a double garage (apart from other features!).
Having obtained planning permission, we went out to tender towards the end of 2003, with a view to starting work in the spring of the following year. Work started on the new double garage pretty much on schedule and was finished in June.
At that point, the first inklings of what was originally destined to be a five year project were born:
Year 1 – Engine
Year 2 – Gearbox and Transmission
Year 3 – Chassis
Year 4 – Body
Year 5 – Paint and Final Assembly
In November 2004, I imported a Ford 351W 5.8 litre reconditioned short motor along with an Edelbrock RPM Performer package.
In August of the following year, I ordered a gearbox, clutch and flywheel plus all the ancillary components to complete my engine.
2005 was to be the year that I ordered my chassis from my chosen manufacturer, that I had kept in touch with all of this time – nearly 14 years! I sold my nice expensive Jaguar and bought a BMW diesel hatchback instead to fund the project.
It was also in this year that my son, Adam had made a trip to Canada with his cousin to stay with a distant relative we had recently discovered. On his way back, he realised he ought to by a present for his family back at home and hastily bought me an American Kit Car magazine from a newsagent at the airport.
Out of courtesy to him more than anything else, I looked through it and then went on to the websites of all of the replica manufactures that advertised. One site – www.factoryfive.com clean blew me away. That chassis was a work of art. All that race-proved pedigree. Authentic. Over 5,000 on the road already. By a country mile, the best Cobra replica website of any manufacturer I had ever seen.
But this was mad. There was no representation over here. Left hand drive was daft in such a powerful car. No parts availability, no Mustangs, nothing.
So I decided to return to my original strategy and contacted my favourite UK manufacturer. I met him at his factory unit with chequebook in hand to be greeted with the news that there was now a long waiting list and the prices had gone up 20%.
To try and cheer me up, he took me out in his brand new demonstrator. Big mistake for him, life saver for me. The clutch was so heavy, I could hardly push the pedal down; the brakes had so little feel, I doubt if they could have stopped the car from any speed; it sounded horrible – a bit like a Harley Davidson – great on a Harley, but not in one of these; and it had no guts. I would have expected to have been thrown back in my seat in a car like this, my BMW diesel felt quicker!
I left, bitterly disappointed, but deep down relieved that I wasn’t going to spend 5 years and several thousand pounds to end up with the car of my dreams that I would hate.
Returning home, I picked up the magazine that Adam had bought me again and spent more time on the Factory Five Racing website. The site was good enough to just buy online, but I thought to myself that I can’t spend this amount of money with a Company I have never even visited or spoken to.
I discovered I had enough Air Miles to buy a return flight to Boston, so I persuaded a friend to come with me to try and keep my heart and brain apart and off we went. After a morning of looking at the factory and the cars, there was no contest and I handed over my Credit Card.
8 weeks later, just before Christmas 2005, the best Christmas present in the world arrived at home!
A christening party was arranged at which Cobra beers were served (what else?) and half the village turned up to have a look.
It occurred to me that I probably wouldn’t be the only one to get this excited about this car and maybe we could import them, make a few extra pounds and have some fun along the way!
Being in business in Salisbury, as I have been for the last five years, I had made quite a few contacts, so I put out a few feelers looking for a business associate who was interested in cars, had some money to invest and some premises available.
One day at a Chamber of Commerce meeting, I mentioned to a local business woman that I had met a few times at such meetings and she seemed like good fun. I said that I had a mad business idea that I would like to run past her. She replied that she loved mad business ideas and we made an appointment to meet at her office.
I told her my story to date whilst she looked through the Factory Five Racing brochure. She flicked the pages over in complete silence, apparently totally disinterested and not really listening to a word I had been saying.
Suddenly, she pointed excitedly at the brochure: “I’ll have that one!” she exclaimed pointing at theType 65 Coupe. “What a brilliant idea, I am definitely in, let’s do it!” January 2006 saw her husband Jim and I back at Factory Five in Wareham for Jim to have a look.
Another no contest decision and her Coupe was ordered. Luckily, while we were there, Dave Smith happened to be there too. To our surprise, he told us that FFR had been looking at the UK for three years, having sent Jesper Ingerslef over on an exploratory mission. They agreed that the UK was a potentially excellent market for Factory Five Racing, but they needed a business partner, UK based to work with. Finding someone they could trust had so far prevented the project from going any further.
Jim and I determined right there that we would become that partner.
As we progressed with the build of the two cars and their conversion to right hand drive, we kept in touch with Factory Five and in September 2006, Jesper and his wife made another trip to England to see us and the cars, particularly how we were managing the conversion and the UK regulatory issues.
Shortly after, we had a long telephone conversation with Dave Smith, which was followed by a letter confirming that we would indeed be appointed the exclusive distributors for Factory Five Racing here in the UK.
We formed Hunter Murrell Motorsport Ltd, which would trade as Factory Five Racing (UK) and our new baby was born, with Mel, Jim, my wife Tina and I as Directors.
Our objective now is to emulate the customer-focussed ethic of Factory Five Racing Inc and create a brand here in the UK that all motoring enthusiasts aspire to.
Ian Hunter
Director
Factory Five Racing 2008
