By Dean Larson

Photos: Seller, eBay

What you buy is a fiberglass body, steel tubular chassis and a whole bunch of ancillary pieces that could be used to build a car. What becomes of those pieces and the identity of the finished product — that’s on you. And when it came to creating the Bottom Dollar Coupe, builder Ben Lambiotte invested every resource available to him to create a streetable track car with minimal sacrifices, all with a character larger than life. While it may have cost him his bottom dollar, Lambiotte enjoyed this this special Factory Five Coupe for many years before donating it a cause greater than himself.

This Type 65 Coupe rolled off Factory Five’s line back in 2008, when owner Ben Lambiotte took a gamble and purchased it right in the middle of the 2007-2009 recession. Much of the car’s early construction was handled at the Fast Freddies’ Fabrication, and it served as a test bed to develop a host of custom fab parts, including a Lexan rear hatch, electro-mechanical power steering and adjustable front end components. It was up and running by July of 2009, wearing a unique shade of House of Kolors blue paint known as Shimrin Fine Metallic Stratto Blue.

Another feature that really makes this Coupe stand out is the strictly business dashboard, which was done by Larry Casey of Casey Designs. It’s a clean setup that has a bit more going on than your average Daytona Coupe, and it’s outfitted with a track-ready array of switches and Pro-Comp gauges. Casey was also responsible for the construction of the custom high-flow Burns stainless sidepipes as well.

There’s no disguising the fact that Lambiotte and Fast Freddies’ had track performance in mind for this car. It’s powered by a Ford 347 ci stroker with RaceTec pistons, Mahle rods, a solid-roller cam, Jesel shaft rockers, an Edelbrock Victor Jr. intake and 195 cc aluminum heads. Lambiotte explained to the SCCA Foundation that the engine is “built to spin up to 7,500 redline and back down to corner entry speed, all day long.”

To support roughly 500 hp on the track, the Bottom Dollar Coupe is outfitted with an Accusump oiling system, five-speed transmission and Wilwood discs. Toyo Proxes rubber keeps the Coupe stuck to the pavement, mounted on unique CCW Classic three-piece wheels. Koni adjustable coilovers are used on all-four corners, and the car is fit with an independent rear suspension and a Torsen differential with 3.55 gears.

Lambiotte ended up enjoying the car to the fullest, using it for autocross events, track days and street driving for years. He maintained and perfected the car during this time, and we’re assuming the majority of the 6,200 miles on the car were added by him. But as often happens, he eventually found that he wasn’t using the car as much as he once did, and it went into a three year hibernation. Upon the early passing of his close friend Wade Chamberlain (a competitive driver and Cobra enthusiast himself), Lambiotte decided to donate the Bottom Dollar Coupe to the SCCA Foundation in honor of Chamberlain, citing an appreciation for the SCCA’s generous driving programs for veterans, teens and women, along with their dedication to improving safety and sportsmanship in amateur road racing.

To get the Bottom Dollar Coupe back to her former glory, SCCA Foundation Chairman Jeff Jacobs picked up the car from Philadelphia and got it running once again. From there, Phoenix Performance in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania serviced the car and TireRack donated a new set of Toyo tires. The car was then detailed by Tim McNair of Grand Prix Concours in Philadelphia, and transported to Mecum’s Kissimmee 2021, where it raised $55,000 for the SCCA Foundation.

The Bottom Dollar Coupe is now offered for sale here on eBay by Classic Car Liquidators for $69,999.