The Factory Five community was on full display at the Huntington Beach Pier last weekend at the 2012 Factory Five Huntington Beach Cruise-In event. The day was a huge success with perfect weather and over 100 Factory Five cars on display on the pier plaza and adjacent parking lot. Factory Five customers contributed huge to make this year’s event the best ever. Here’s the play-by-play.
The show was to start at 9 AM but Factory Five fanatics began arriving at 7:30! By 9 o’clock, all registered cars had arrived but three, and the pier plaza and parking lot were jammed with Roadsters, Hot Rods, Coupes, GTMs, and a few (4) non-FFR makes.
Photo courtesy of FFR customer Sergio T.
The hosts from Speed Channel’s car Car Warriors Brad Fanshaw and Ray McClelland were on hand to unveil the pair of ’33 Hot Rods that were built on the show. At 10 AM, the car covers were pulled off of the two cars and people on hand were the first ones to see the two Hot Rods in real life since the debut of the Speed Channel show about a month ago.
The winning East Coast car was donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Factory Five Racing President Dave Smith’s daughter Jenny was on hand to accept the donation.
Jenny Smith was on hand to accept the donation of the Car Warrior’s Hot Rod on behalf of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Jenny was released from the hospital last week and was determined to make the trip to SoCal!
The band got started around 10:30 and DJ Mike Brassfield (FFR customer) handled fill music and announcements as he has done at previous HB events. The live music was a fun addition to this really fun one-day event. The band played popular surf music and great rock’n’roll for most of the day. Mike Brassfield did an OUTSTANDING job keeping everyone at the show informed and entertained.
Jeff “Da Bat” Miller attended as a sponsor with his company Miller Customs and brought along his fighter plan paint job Roadster. The cool surprise was that he brought a bucket of dry-erase marker pens and allowed people to sign his car! How many times are you offered an opportunity to sign a beautiful Factory Five Roadster?!?! It was an awesome addition to the event. Jeff had the honor of announcing the Moment of Thunder “Gentlemen, start your engines!” The Moment of Thunder was held at noon where everyone fired up their engines at once and raised a great gearhead tribute to members of our community who are no longer with us.
Customers really did make the event special this year. Factory Five customer and road racer Karen Salvaggio brought her Coupe and two Challenge Cars and was instrumental in planning the entire event. This year’s Moment of Thunder tribute was made especially with her husband Andy in mind who passed away last fall.
Factory Five customer and forum chief Dave Hodgkins was on hand to sherpa tables, equipment, and lend a hand anywhere needed. Dave Hodgkins is personally responsible for making sure that the cruise-in event survived during the darkest days of the recent recession. When Factory Five could not afford to bring out the big truck and rent the pier plaza, he stepped up and organized a cruise-in to continue the tradition. As great as the event was, it was even more special watching Dave quietly go about helping set-up and anyone in need since the entire event owes its existence to his hard work and dedication.
Factory Five President Dave Smith with customer Erik Hansen and video-pro Greg Hoy who filmed the event and is producing an HD video about the cruise-in.
Factory Five Erik Hansen contributed his best efforts by securing the band, The Nomads, who rocked hard all day in the SoCal sunshine. Erik’s company ’33 Machine helps guys build Factory Fives and by the way, Erik drove his Hot Rod to a 1st place win in the Del Mar GoodGuys autocross a few weeks ago and earned “Best in Show – Hot Rod” with his flat black, very cool ’33.
Factory Five President Dave Smith attended the event and was assisted by his three daughters – Nicole (17), Madison (15), and Jennifer (13) – along with Madison’s friends – Sarah and Laura Carlson (15). The girls worked the Factory Five tent and Madison did photography.
Factory Five Racing Show & Event Coordinator Sally Bean attended the event and worked closely with Dave Hodgkins, Karen Salvaggio, Erik Hansen, and the town of Huntington Beach to deliver a truly fun event.
Reporter Steve Temple took the opportunity to photograph a number well built Factory Fives for numerous magazines.
This year, car show awards judging was a real challenge as the quality and caliber of the cars present was tremendous. Ray and Brad did a great job scoring the cars and handing out the following awards:
John Cameron earned Best in Show – Overall! Ray McClellan from Full Throttle Customs (left) and Bran Fanshaw from BonSpeed (right).
The car show awards were presented by Ray and Brad from Car Warriors. Among the many great cars was John Cameron’s beautiful orange Roadster that won Best in Show – Overall and Chuck Armstrong’s stunning yellow ’33 Hot Rod that earned a very close second place Best in Show – Runner-Up. Fernando Viverio’s Type 65 Coupe was a jaw dropper and Ron Richman’s GTM earned a deserved Best in Show – GTM.
Award Winners:
Best in Show Overall – John Cameron
Best in Show Runner-Up – Chuck Armstrong
Best in Show Roadster Overall – Mike Dingman
Best in Show Roadster Runner-Up – Ralph Valencia
Best in Show Type 65 Coupe Overall – Fernando Vivero
Best in Show Type 65 Coupe Runner-Up – Don Vaught
Best in Show GTM Overall – Ron Richman
Best in Show GTM Runner-Up – Mike Easton
Best in Show ’33 Hot Rod Overall – Erik Hansen
Best in Show ’33 Hot Rod Runner-Up – Dennis Russell
Best Use of Chrome – John Cameron
Best Paint – Craig Baker
Best Engine – Gary Heinbuch
Best Interior/Details – Neil Katz
Most Innovative Design – Chuck Armstrong
Highest Accrued Mileage – Steve Moriarty
Factory Five Legacy Award Winners – Ray McEdwards and Jeff “Da Bat” Miller
Factory Five Legacy Awards were presented to Ray McEdwards for his contributions to the Factory Five community and also to Jeff Miller who has probably painted more Factory Fives than any one in the business. He is a fixture in the community and a great guy.
Factory Five customer Neil Katz, FFR#4058, earned Best Interior for his Mk3 Roadster.
A special note of thank you to all of the sponsors and customers without whom this special annual event would not be possible. There’s no way we can thank everyone so we just want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who helped in large ways and in small.
Click here to see a gallery of photos from the 2012 HB Cruise-In. Even more photos and event coverage can be found on The Factory Five Forum.
Quick YouTube video of Factory Five car show winners and Legacy Awards courtesy of FFR customer Sergio T. We will have a full length HD video of the event available soon.