Alumicraft.. what’s the story and the kinds?

HP.Habits

HP.Habits

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I know Alumicraft is synonymous with desert racing and there’s a lot of history there. Interested in the Sand Dune side of the Alumicraft story. What’s the history, the different models, certain chassis that stand out and out perform? I know the Funco cars really took shape in their 3rd generation and have been perfected since. I want to understand Alumicraft.
 
John Cooleys background explains why his cars are the way they are. He started at Jimco racing. He was building race cars, racing his own car, he also was taught shocks by John Marking, who also started at Jimco before going to Fox and making Fox what it is today. Cooley was tuning shocks for Jimco after Marking. Then when Jack from Jacks Aluminum who worked in house at Jimco building all the Jimco bodies was retiring. John decided to take over for Jack and started Alumicraft, thus the name. Cooley was to take over and build aluminum race car body’s for Jimco & other side projects.. Then John built himself a play sand buggy built with racing engineering, and race car customers liked it and wanted it. So he started building them along with doing aluminum work. Then came the Luxury class 1 buggy style prerunners. Craig Stewart was doing the Luxury prerun trucks, and Cooley started doing the buggys. Originally he had a hand shake agreement to not build race cars as that was Jimco’s territory. John built his own class 10 race car and over time customers wanted John’s designs and so he went race car building too.

Bottom line is John Cooley understands the whole design & suspension concept, right down to shocks & shock design. His first single shock internal bypass Fox shocks were amazing and that was John’s tune built in the Fox shock. When John ordered a shock it was the Alumicraft ports and valving.

I saved this quick write up off this site years ago
 
Who's had an Alumicraft built since Cooley sold? I vetted them but opted to go with Funco and couldn't be happier. And I intended to go with AC when I started the process. I'm not at all suggesting AC doesn't build great cars. I just couldn't get comfortable with them. Cost for AC was much higher. Lead time was much longer and some other issues. And you just can't beat the service and process @Grant@Funco provides. Yes, I'm bias. But Funco has earned the bias I have.
 
Drupanddown said:
John Cooleys background explains why his cars are the way they are. He started at Jimco racing. He was building race cars, racing his own car, he also was taught shocks by John Marking, who also started at Jimco before going to Fox and making Fox what it is today. Cooley was tuning shocks for Jimco after Marking. Then when Jack from Jacks Aluminum who worked in house at Jimco building all the Jimco bodies was retiring. John decided to take over for Jack and started Alumicraft, thus the name. Cooley was to take over and build aluminum race car body’s for Jimco & other side projects.. Then John built himself a play sand buggy built with racing engineering, and race car customers liked it and wanted it. So he started building them along with doing aluminum work. Then came the Luxury class 1 buggy style prerunners. Craig Stewart was doing the Luxury prerun trucks, and Cooley started doing the buggys. Originally he had a hand shake agreement to not build race cars as that was Jimco’s territory. John built his own class 10 race car and over time customers wanted John’s designs and so he went race car building too.

Bottom line is John Cooley understands the whole design & suspension concept, right down to shocks & shock design. His first single shock internal bypass Fox shocks were amazing and that was John’s tune built in the Fox shock. When John ordered a shock it was the Alumicraft ports and valving.

I saved this quick write up off this site years ago
Click to expand...
Your welcome! I started reading this, and though, wow this guy knows every detail I know. Then realized this was my old post. 😂
 
Matt Major is the new owner of Alumicraft. Super good dude. I've been transporting his cars for a couple of years now. Very nice builds. This reminds me I need to invoice them for the last two car transports, and two Redline engines.

This car was built for a Buffalo Bills player. I'm 6' and the seat/pedals were too far forward for me.

20250908_112028.jpg
 
If you know, you know......

As much as it hurts, I'm hopefully getting out of mine this season. A couple Alumicrafts in our group's orbit have recently wrecked, and its just not something I want to experience physically or financially. Our group drives these cars like they were designed to be driven and I feel its not if, its when..... Seasons of life change and I'm way more interested in my early life interest of rock crawling versus the sand these days.

Some things that set Alumicraft apart.

1. Geometry - you aren't eating heims or CV's because they aren't binding at all throughout the range of motion of the suspension like MANY cars out there. The cars flat out work, predictable and controllable.
2. Chassis Design/Strength - it'll save your life when you need it, proven time and time again unfortunately :(
3. Fit & finish - unmatched from the very first cars that were built to some of the most recent. Yes, many builders have closed that gap now, but early 2000's to mid teens, I don't think you could convince me otherwise that an Alumicraft wasn't the best complete package.
4. John Cooley - It is unfortunate that John is no longer a part of Alumicraft. He remembered every car, knew the history, and treated you as an equal to the million dollar baja racers that spent hundreds of thousands at his hop. I've never had an interaction with someone similar to the couple of interactions I had with John. I didn't "belong" in that shop, but he treated me like I did. I'll also never forget how clean their bathroom was....I know that is a weird thing to stand out, but I think it just shows what his ethos was for how he ran his operation.

We have had a pretty large group of strictly Alumicrafts in our group over the past 7 years, from some of the earliest cars, to the newest. Probably a bit snobbish looking from the outside, but not a single car in our group was ever "annoying". You know the guys & cars I'm taking about, the guy that is always broke, needing to fix this, needing to fuck with that. These cars were designed and built right, and as long as they are maintained, will give you many years of trouble free duning. The crazy part is, you can do some subtle style upgrades to an early car, and it's hard to tell them apart from a car built a decade later, and they still perform just as well.

You can't touch the heritage, style, or performance package of a Cooley Car in the sand IMO.... but I'm admittedly very biased!


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I didn't grow up in this scene or in SoCal, so there are better people that can explain the heritage versus what I can regurgitate. I would just be repeating what I have heard through word of mouth. The owner of the company I work for had 3 cars built by John over the years. Two guys in our group had two very early sand cars built by John and ran them from early 2000's up until now. One is still driving and upgrading yearly (red curved roof subie powered 4 seater now with an S4), one was just sold last season (Orange chassis 4 seater). My car was built in '04 as a pre-runner chassis, and I'd argue is a better duning car than any of them in our group based on stability, power and shock setup. Admittedly, I've never driven a boosted car, but I feel like it is way more fun duning a decently powered NA car in the dunes than one with boost because you can drive the car so hard. With boost, there is so much on & off the throttle, torque steer, and nose lifting, the NA car runs away from them in the dunes. Drags, its obviously a different story when it comes to power, unless you have a a well placed photographer to get photo evidence of you leading the pack (Thanks to Jacob Niube for the drag photo above).
 
Drupanddown said:
John Cooleys background explains why his cars are the way they are. He started at Jimco racing. He was building race cars, racing his own car, he also was taught shocks by John Marking, who also started at Jimco before going to Fox and making Fox what it is today. Cooley was tuning shocks for Jimco after Marking. Then when Jack from Jacks Aluminum who worked in house at Jimco building all the Jimco bodies was retiring. John decided to take over for Jack and started Alumicraft, thus the name. Cooley was to take over and build aluminum race car body’s for Jimco & other side projects.. Then John built himself a play sand buggy built with racing engineering, and race car customers liked it and wanted it. So he started building them along with doing aluminum work. Then came the Luxury class 1 buggy style prerunners. Craig Stewart was doing the Luxury prerun trucks, and Cooley started doing the buggys. Originally he had a hand shake agreement to not build race cars as that was Jimco’s territory. John built his own class 10 race car and over time customers wanted John’s designs and so he went race car building too.

Bottom line is John Cooley understands the whole design & suspension concept, right down to shocks & shock design. His first single shock internal bypass Fox shocks were amazing and that was John’s tune built in the Fox shock. When John ordered a shock it was the Alumicraft ports and valving.

I saved this quick write up off this site years ago
Click to expand...
^ This is spot on.

If you want to know what an alumicraft can do, I welcome you to jump in my front seat... Bring your helmet and neck restraint.
 
L.R.S. said:
Matt Major is the new owner of Alumicraft. Super good dude. I've been transporting his cars for a couple of years now. Very nice builds. This reminds me I need to invoice them for the last two car transports, and two Redline engines.

This car was built for a Buffalo Bills player. I'm 6' and the seat/pedals were too far forward for me.

View attachment 161071
Click to expand...
I'm betting that is Dion Dawkins car.......
 
I think one of my favorite Alumicraft cars was the one with Marilyn Monroe painted on the bottom.
The car was beautiful……
I’m sure someone has pics
 
All great info. Thank You for the insights. I have been in Fast Kennys car and it handles great, but being passenger only gets you so much info and direct feedback. I am looking at a early Cooley car at the moment and Alumicraft has been on my list of cars to try on for size for a while now. Im going to be honest and some people may not like this: Of all the early 2000 Sandcars I have owned/driven, most of them all have the same feeling and driving response with a few differing characteristics so far except one.... and thats Funco. They are different in more then just Airbag suspension. And some of their specs you would think would go against their performance are in fact - big pieces to the puzzle of why they work so dang good and have taken Many EPOs.
With that said, I havent put enough time in an Alumicraft and I know they have a Cult like following just like Funco. Which is one of the reasons I am chasing this car so much. I want to put enough time in one to find out what its all about. The car Im chasing is likely a close enough comparison to my Funco in time period too so it will be an even comparison.

Either way, All the cars I have driven have been an absolute great time in the dunes minus a couple cars, and even they had their golden moments..
With all that said, I am not looking for the best car (although I might have my own favorites and reasons why). Rather - I am trying to understand each make and model the best I can. Each one has its pros/cons. But some of those pros are tailored to a type of driver... Ive learned that the average duner hasnt had the chance to feel out enough cars to really match their driving style with the right car. Im out to bridge that gap with first hand experience.
@RiverDave knows what im talking about.
 
HP.Habits said:
Rather - I am trying to understand each make and model the best I can. Each one has its pros/cons. But some of those pros are tailored to a type of driver... Ive learned that the average duner hasnt had the chance to feel out enough cars to really match their driving style with the right car. Im out to bridge that gap with first hand experience.
@RiverDave knows what im talking about.
Click to expand...
This exact sentiment is one reason why I have only been a spectator in the sand car world.

One of the best handling cars I have been in was Gabe Agana's 2 seat Alumicraft, out in Ocotillo when he finished his build. Pedal to the floor, sandy wash with walls on each side... the car went exactly where he pointed it and I never felt like it was not a safe journey. Small, light, basic... just what a sand car should be. No frills, just what was needed. It has since been molested out of that simplicity but that was "The Car" in my eyes, after comparing passenger experiences with Allstar, Desert Dynamics, Tom Pro, and Funco's. I would love to have a Funco but would likely continue to punch myself if an Alumicraft wasn't ultimately chosen.

Edited to add: It would have to be a car Gabe built/welded. I'm weird like that. For the talent the guy has, he was extremely down to earth and answered all of my stupid questions. He does work that is my level of "give a fuck" (do it right or don't do it at all). A story told to me by Greengo was that he Powder Coated an entire truck body because he overfabricated a few parts of it that needed powder, requiring the entire truck to go in the oven. Also given his path in the Import Industry, dude just knows his shit plain and simple... and cares about his work.
 
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Dockmaster said:
Who's had an Alumicraft built since Cooley sold? I vetted them but opted to go with Funco and couldn't be happier. And I intended to go with AC when I started the process. I'm not at all suggesting AC doesn't build great cars. I just couldn't get comfortable with them. Cost for AC was much higher. Lead time was much longer and some other issues. And you just can't beat the service and process @Grant@Funco provides. Yes, I'm bias. But Funco has earned the bias I have.
Click to expand...

HP.Habits said:
All great info. Thank You for the insights. I have been in Fast Kennys car and it handles great, but being passenger only gets you so much info and direct feedback. I am looking at a early Cooley car at the moment and Alumicraft has been on my list of cars to try on for size for a while now. Im going to be honest and some people may not like this: Of all the early 2000 Sandcars I have owned/driven, most of them all have the same feeling and driving response with a few differing characteristics so far except one.... and thats Funco. They are different in more then just Airbag suspension. And some of their specs you would think would go against their performance are in fact - big pieces to the puzzle of why they work so dang good and have taken Many EPOs.
With that said, I havent put enough time in an Alumicraft and I know they have a Cult like following just like Funco. Which is one of the reasons I am chasing this car so much. I want to put enough time in one to find out what its all about. The car Im chasing is likely a close enough comparison to my Funco in time period too so it will be an even comparison.

Either way, All the cars I have driven have been an absolute great time in the dunes minus a couple cars, and even they had their golden moments..
With all that said, I am not looking for the best car (although I might have my own favorites and reasons why). Rather - I am trying to understand each make and model the best I can. Each one has its pros/cons. But some of those pros are tailored to a type of driver... Ive learned that the average duner hasnt had the chance to feel out enough cars to really match their driving style with the right car. Im out to bridge that gap with first hand experience.
@RiverDave knows what im talking about.
Click to expand...
As a generalization, most people have no idea of what their cars are capable of.
Many people don’t think twice about dropping some dough to add 50+ more horsepower to their car but refuse to spend $1000-$3000 and a full day of tuning on the suspension.
In my opinion my 07 Suspension Unlimited Sand Pro 2 was the best all around car I’ve ever owned (I’ve had most of the name brands). Spending a full day in the dunes having my suspension tuned by Ed (Pound Sand) was a game changer and by far the best money I’ve ever spent on performance.
Little things like dialing in tire pressure for sand conditions are huge in a car’s performance / handling and could cause an unfair generalization of a buggy’s worth or characteristics.
My 03 Alumicraft was a game changer for me, it was owned by a GDCer named Wasabe. I had tons of people come up to me in the dunes sharing memories of them riding in the car or being in a group the car ran in. I believe the dude that built the motor (Acura) for it was named Westwood or something like that, I had to track him down for the copper head gaskets. He was so cool, said he had some hanging in his shop, sent them to me at no charge.
My $.2
 
BaBaBouy said:
As a generalization, most people have no idea of what their cars are capable of.
Many people don’t think twice about dropping some dough to add 50+ more horsepower to their car but refuse to spend $1000-$3000 and a full day of tuning on the suspension.
....Little things like dialing in tire pressure for sand conditions are huge in a car’s performance / handling and could cause an unfair generalization of a buggy’s worth or characteristics.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. I very much agree with this point! I have outrun LS Sand cars and canams in a short travel Mazzone only because I knew what its strong points were and capitalized on them every chance I could. That run still gets brought up every time that group wants to do a night run. Suspension plays a way bigger role then power - most the time. but the chassis, geometry, weight distribution, Wheelbase.... They all are important pieces to the puzzle.

Im Spoiled on tires since I do Comp Cutting. I have a small collection and keep adding to it for testing. Each car gets to try at least 2 or three variations while I have them because the cars limits change simply by tire set up..
 
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