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All-New Gen 3 Coupe

Introducing the all-new Gen 3 Factory Five Daytona Coupe replica.  This third generation car is completely new.  There is not a single piece of steel chassis, aluminum panel, or composite body that is shared with the previous gen 1 and gen 2 car!  This is effectively an all-new Factory Five design.

After last year’s SEMA Show, we began working on a major revision to our original Type 65 Daytona Coupe.  After carefully considering the design goals, Director of R&D Jim Schenck decided he could not meet the goals of increased performance, increased cockpit space, and improved body shape without designing an all-new modern space-frame chassis to replace the vintage round tube chassis. Once we decided on an all-new chassis, we agreed to revise the body from the ground up with a new, improved, more symmetrical, and more aerodynamic shape.

The car has been track tested and carefully developed over the past year addressing many of the requests from customers for improvement over the old car and incorporating forward thinking new changes.

The new car debuted at SEMA 2016 and is now in production. Click here to view a full photo gallery.

Gen 3 Coupe Chassis Details

The Gen 3 Coupe project began with design goals that included a more rigid chassis and more interior space including larger door openings, more head room, and more footbox space. These design goal required an all-new space-frame design. The 4″ round-tube-based ladder frame is now replaced with a fully modern, computer-designed space-frame.

The new chassis was tested and delivers 7.5 times more torsional rigidity than the Gen 1 and Gen 2 cars! Thanks to the muscle in modern CAD and our 20 years+ of chassis engineering, the new Factory Five Gen 3 Coupe chassis is the most rigid FFR frame to date. Even stronger than the mighty GTM! This is a huge deal since a strong chassis delivers the best ride quality and the highest performance on the track.

Today’s horsepower wars ignore the importance of horsepower-to-weight ratios.  As horsepower has grown, so has the average vehicle weight.  We decided with the new Coupe to go absolutely insane with horsepower to prove the strength of the chassis and the quality of the proven suspension. The crew at Ford Performance delivered a 731 HP engine based on the supercharged Ford 5.0L Coyote engine.  The vehicle weighs under 2,500 lbs. full of gas and ready to drive.

The new Coupe chassis uses the proven front suspension geometry and parts of the Mk4 Roadster and all three Factory Five rear suspensions (4-link, 3-link, and 2015 and later IRS).

Gen 3 Coupe Exterior Details

A close second to the chassis re-design was the complete re-design of the body.  The new Coupe composite body is simply perfect in shape, proportion, and symmetry. The most obvious change is the new glass hatch and revised tail section with pronounced fender flares, a revised rear spoiler, and more period-correct rear end with an improved tail angle and slightly bigger surface.

The nose symmetry of the body has been corrected. The front fender radius was increased, and headlights were corrected with a better shape and new covers.

The front and rear fender flares are beautiful, and beyond form, the function of the new body is dramatically improved.  The car is more aerodynamic, has more under hood clearance (even with the new hood liner), most importantly, the interior space is CAVERNOUS.

Changes from the Gen 1 and 2 Coupe in interior space is dramatic.  By leaving the 4″ round tube chassis, we were able to drop the floor/seat height by a whopping 2-1/2″.  We added another 1/2″ in head room by increasing the radius of the roof line. Even better, the door opening has been increased by a huge 3-1/2″ making getting in and out so much easier.  Once inside, the increased cockpit height and 1-1/2″ of more leg room length make this car so much bigger inside and truly big and tall capable.

The dash has been re-designed to be more period-correct and uses the AutoMeter Platinum vintage gauges standard. The view from the cockpit rearward is enhanced with an all-new glass hatch and a revised rear spoiler for better visibility (the old spoiler was radiused all across the top and the new spoiler is flatter in the center for better visibility).

The view from the back shows the extent of the changes to the rear fenders, body, spoiler, glass, and roof.

The new glass hatch is more round side-to-side and also more round front-to-back matching the radius of the top of the car from the leading edge of the windshield along the revised roofline, and all the way back to the tail. Photos don’t really do justice to the beauty of the newly revised body.

The nose received some major corrections in symmetry, headlight openings, and the shape around the foglights. We increased the curvature on the top of the fenders. The line between the fenders and fender flares is more pronounced. The hood scoop is 2″ longer which increases engine height clearance which enabled us to fit a supercharger on top of the 5.0L modular engine.

The outside lower corners of the nose are dramatically re-shaped and are prettier. The front windshield and small composite scoops are the only parts on the body that are shared with the Gen 1 and Gen 2 cars.  Windows (which few customers use) are now an affordable option.

One big change was the exhaust.  We designed a freer-flowing exhaust that accommodates stratospheric horsepower! Almost as important is the sound of the exhaust.  We are now using the same headers options as the Mk4 Roadster with a single exhaust collector that splits into two, so the sound no longer separates the four pulses and it just sounds great.

The car is beautiful from every single angle and after a year of shaping, there isn’t a single asymmetry or conflicting line. It is simply perfect.

Pete Brock was consulted during the shaping of the body and his feedback was integrated into this most beautiful shape.

Learn More about the Gen 3 Coupe

The new Factory Five Gen 3 Daytona Coupe replica is better in every way.  The company has 15 years of design maturity that was brought to bear on this car that was originally designed in 1999.

Read the Gen 3 Coupe Overview