Tampa Cruise-In Report, Feb. 2, 2013

I was fortunate to spend the day in Tampa at the offices of Modified Mustangs & Fords Magazine last Saturday, February 2nd, and we hosted a customer cruise-in event. About 30 Factory Five customers drove their cars on a beautiful 70 degree sunshine filled day, joined by about 150 spectators.

Factory Five President Dave Smith with Tim (left) and Priest Hazelwood. Their Hot Rod won Best in Show Overall.

The quality of the cars was impressive and we hosted a car show with awards. The awards were sponsored by Ron Raimondo at Performance Automotive. The event saw two GTMs, three Hot Rods, two Type 65 Coupes, and a slew of well turned out Roadsters. The magazine opened up their shop and provided refreshments for everyone.

Car Show Awards Winners:
Best of Show, 1st Place – Priest Hazelwood, ’33 Hot Rod
Best of Show, 2nd Place – Tip Franklin, Mk3 Roadster
Best Engine – Tip Franklin, Mk3 Roadster
Best Paint – Jim Smeltzer, Mk4 Roadster
Best Use of Chrome – Jeff O’Neal, Mk3 Roadster
Best Interior – Peter Frantzis, Mk3 Roadster
Most Innovative Design – Keith Bentzel, GTM

Modified Mustangs & Fords Magazine awarded an Editor’s Choice trophy that went to Factory Five customer Garry Bopp for his beautiful blue Type 65 Coupe.

Above: Best in Show Overall, ’33 Hot Rod built by Priest Hazelwood and his son, Tim.

Keith Bentzel won Most Innovative Design. His car has been featured in Vette Magazine!

Factory Five customer Garry Bopp receives the Editor’s Choice Award from Steve Bauer, Editor of Modified Mustangs & Fords Magazine.

At 11 AM, we pulled the cover off of this beautiful silver and red Summit Racing Equipment Mk4 Roadster. The car is currently featured in the Summit Racing catalog and everyone got a chance to inspect the car close-up.

I brought my Type 65 Coupe with Ford Racing’s new 363 small block producing 426 HP at the rear wheel!

The video below is me driving with Tim Hazelwood. We just ran out to get some donuts for breakfast. 😀

One highlight of the day was getting to watch the magazine staff dyno test the red Factory Five Racing Mk4 Roadster which is powered by the Ford 5.0L Coyote engine. The car managed to pull 388 HP @ 7,000 RPM on the dyno.

Special thanks to all of the customers who brought their cars out. Thanks also to Summit Racing, Ford Racing, Performance Automotive, and the entire staff at Modified Mustangs & Fords Magazine for a fun day with Factory Fives.