Photos by Dean Larson

Factory Five Racing is coming to Vegas with their guns loaded. In addition to the new all-steel ’33 Hot Rod body, FFR is debuting an all-new Daytona Coupe at SEMA Show 2016.

The new Daytona Coupe has been redesigned from top to bottom and does not share a single body panel or chassis component with the Gen 1 or 2 cars. Factory Five R&D started work on the new coupe with the goals of increased performance, improved cockpit space and improved body design. Realizing that these goals could not be accomplished with the existing 4-inch round-tube-based ladder frame, FFR went back to the drawing board and designed a new computer-designed space-frame.

In testing, it was found that the new frame had 7.5 times the torsional rigidity of the Gen 1 and 2 cars. Impressive as this is, the new frame is also the most rigid frame ever produced at Factory Five, even more than the GTM super car. Parting with the 4-inch round-tube also helped accomplish the goal of improved cockpit space. Factory Five was able to drop the height of the floor and seats 2 1/2-inches and add 1/2-inch of head room by increasing the radius of the roofline. The door openings were increased by 3 1/2-inches to make getting in the coupe easier and the legroom was increased by 1 1/2-inches. 

The rest of the body was also treated to some stylistic improvements. The front fenders received an increased radius and the headlight shape was improved. FFR increased the radius of the rear windshield and all four fenders are more pronounced.

The new coupe on display at SEMA will hide a Ford 5.0 liter Coyote engine under its redesigned hood. Equipped with a supercharger from Edelbrock, this combination is good for 731 hp.

The completely redesigned Daytona Coupe will add $1,000 to the price of the original coupe.