Right after the holidays in early 2008 I got a strange call from my mother. She and my father would be getting a divorce. He was one the phone, but didn’t want to talk about it or answer any questions I might have. My mother respected this and wouldn’t get into any details with me, concerned that it would upset my father, something I noted wasn’t really her chief concern anymore given his starting divorce proceedings. 

The long story of what followed that call can be summed up in three words – Frontal Temporal Dementia. I’m not telling that story here, just touching on the part where a Factory Five Roadster came into it. It was late October 2008 when I posted this to the forums. Back then, Factory Five hadn’t been sued by Carroll Shelby over the use of the term Cobra and so that was what everyone called their roadster. 

“I’ve been hanging around the forums for a while now as I research my build. Said build won’t kick off for at least a few more years – the time at which my sons will be old enough to participate. The father-son build being the key reason I’ll be dropping the coin on an FFR. 

Unfortunately, my father won’t be able to join us in the build. He was recently diagnosed with Frontal-Temporal Dementia and the disease is progressing rapidly. I had thought he would have more time, but now I’m not so sure. He could still be alive next summer, but I’m not sure how aware of his surroundings he would be. 

He has loved Ford his entire life, his first car out of high school being a 1963 or so (don’t really recall) blue and white Ford Falcon Sprint convertible. I do remember taking rides in it and when he sold it in the 80s. He’s never had a ride in a Cobra and it’s something I’d like to do for him while he can still appreciate it.

So, I’m looking for a Mass Cobra owner who would be willing to give my dad a ride this coming weekend (11/1 or 11/2). I live in Westford and my dad is in an Altizmer’s facility near Emerson Hospital in Concord MA. 

Thanks in advance.”

There was an immediate outpouring of offers and support, but nothing prepared me for what happened next. 

I can’t remember exactly how I learned about Factory Five. I believe it was a result of browsing a forum about dream garages. It was 2007 and I’d just moved to a new house with the first two-car garage I’d ever had. I was excited about the potential for that garage and so I spent hours exploring what other people had done to their garage.

At some point, one of those posts diverted away from the garage improvements and into a conversation about the Shelby Cobra sitting in the garage. The owner corrected everyone – it’s a Factory Five Roadster and he’d built himself. 

Well, that was an intriguing statement for a number of reasons and it quickly led me to a second rabbit hole – the Factory Five forums. I started to read the in progress build posts by Sergio, ChevyGuy, etc. and over time it occured to me that this was something *I* could do. I could build my own car in my own garage. Even better, I could knock out the back wall of my garage and add a third bay with plenty of room for a tool bench, a fridge, a tv, and those tool chests that let everyone know you’ve graduated from shade tree mechanic, turning wrenches as a way to save a dollar –  or a hundred – to a serious hobbyist. 

As with all things, reality intervened and none of those things happened. I would wait more than a decade before starting to build my roadster. But I’d be driving one in less than a year.