For Next Sand Car - School Me

tjZ06 said:
The one I just sold was built with a taller roofline, yes, but Grant actually did a lot more G52s like that.  It always looked goofy to me and even at 6' I had a mile above my helmet so I had the roofline lowered.  The guy that bought the car is something like 6'2" and still has room with the helmet, *and* I have the seat itself positioned pretty high (I am a driver, I want visibility not cholo-lean).  

As for your "fun fact" @Dockmaster that's not really true.  Don't judge by just one car.  My car as I sold it would have fit you great (at 6' I had the seat slid forward a few clicks, and as already mentioned I had rails that raised it a bit too).  My car as I got it would have given you half a foot of headroom.  If you want to rule Funcos out because you just want to, that's fine... but you're not getting complete info..

My (ex) car as I got 
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I guess I could have,  perhaps should have,  been more explicit with my fun fact. I was referring to the current era of GTF/GTX/GTU/GTQ/ GT-ANA/F9 series that all use the same basic chassis. I was not considering all past generation builds or customs - sorry. And my source for my fun fact is Grant and his brother Greg so I think my source is pretty reliable😀

 
Dockmaster said:
I guess I could have,  perhaps should have,  been more explicit with my fun fact. I was referring to the current era of GTF/GTX/GTU/GTQ/ GT-ANA/F9 series that all use the same basic chassis. I was not considering all past generation builds or customs - sorry. And my source for my fun fact is Grant and his brother Greg so I think my source is pretty reliable😀
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And I certainly was not intending to suggest that I have ruled out Funco. 

 
I finished all my homework and have concluded my process with a decision made. Yesterday I secured the next build slot and plan to be an FUNCO owner in about a year. Here’s a few highlights of why I made the decision this way:

A Funco will do everything I want to do and then some. I was very impressed with how planted the car feels and the overall stability. I was wrong in my early assumption that they are a wheelie machine. Thanks to all on here who helped me realize this or I may not have otherwise even considered a Funco.  
Grant and the whole family went out of there way to make me feel like a customer and that they wanted my business. With some other builders (names not important) it was more like they were doing me a favor. It was apparent immediately why Funco has a stellar customer service relationship. I appreciated Grant’s candor in explaining what a Funco does well along with some of the things they are not able to prioritize and why. Grant was also the only owner who encouraged me to talk to other Funco Owner’s for references as well as offered a demo. 
Current plan is to use the 4 seat chassis for added headroom but build it in a 2 seat configuration. Car will be 98” wide for ease of trailering but will have the 3.5” shocks . So does that make it a stretched GTX or a shrunken GTU or something else? I’ll let Grant tell me what it’s called in due time. Current thinking is a 440 with 4.5 Whipple tuned for pump gas. I’m aware Whipple is making some changes to their line currently so it may not be called a 4.5 when I get to the build. Trans will likely go with the S5D, final decision later. I’m looking forward to becoming a member of the Funco community!
 

Other cars I considered and why they didn’t make the final cut:

Alumicraft - fantastic quality and awesome cars. Arguably more than I could ever use. Whereas they would fit me into their Sportsman 2 I continued to have concern over line of sight with their shorter windshield and lower forward roofline. AC was also 20%-30% more expensive with same engine/trans combo. Much of this was driven by me deciding doors are a must. Their newer one piece carbon body just doesn’t lend itself to allowing doors so cost goes up dramatically for the custom Fab required. AC also had the longest lead time at nearly two years. 
 

SCU SR2 - I think Justin is making bad ass cars and his SR2 was first runner-up for me. He took the time to walk me through everything and clearly has a good customer service focus. This really came down to a personal aesthetics issue for me. I don’t prefer the full exposed engine look and like to see the engine bay a little more enclosed with some panels around it.  Lead time was about 19 months. They were cost competitive on the car but their requirement for 50% up front and their long lead time would add about a 7.5% cost of money factor for me. In all fairness to Justin, after I informed him I did not select him and that his 50% upfront was a factor he did say he needs to have a fresh look at this policy especially given their increasingly lengthy backlog.

Finally, I also considered Podium Fabrication. Who is Podium you ask? Brian Scarbrough was the lead fabricator for Alumicraft for almost 20 years. When ownership changed at AC, Brian struck out on his own and opened a shop about 8 months ago. His quality and fabrication skills are superb. However, he has not yet built a car at Podium and I just couldn’t get comfortable being the first. This would also be a challenge given I’m not in the area and can’t simply pop in to look at things and make decisions along the build process. Brian’s quote was competitive as was his terms. I look forward to seeing his cars when they get built. 

There are certainly other good builders out there and all have their focus. I have reasons why I didn’t consider some of them but they are not important here. I feel like I had a wide sample range to assess and in the end I’m quite happy with where I landed to this point. 

 
Thanks for sharing the reasons for your choice as well as the reasons for why not on the others. Its always interesting to see every ones experiences. 
Stoked for you and the new car, Funcos are great, no doubt you'll love it. 

 
Congrats. You will not be disappointed. The whole family makes the process and the finish line so worth it. Such a fun car to drive. 👍

 
Dockmaster said:
Forgot to mention I also got had the privilege of finally meeting @URCLEVER in person and seeing his fleet of dune toys 😀
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I must be chopped liver. lol 

Great choice on the Funco build. Grant and his family have great customer service and build bad ass cars. Congrats

 
Talked with Grant during the Regatta. Mentioned you had been by to check out the cars and go for a test drive.  Once you meet Grant and the Funco family, you become family.

Congrats to you. Enjoy the ride.

:cheers:

 
HP.Habits said:
Thanks for sharing the reasons for your choice as well as the reasons for why not on the others. Its always interesting to see every ones experiences. 
Stoked for you and the new car, Funcos are great, no doubt you'll love it. 
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I made sure to share detailed explanations with each builder of why I did not choose them before posting anything here. I have heard back from them and they were very appreciative of the feedback. I'm trying to be very methodical and professional in my approach here. I want to get the right car and at the same time I don't want to burn any bridges. I'm a firm believer in treating others the way I would want to be treated. Any time I'm doing a larger purchase (house, boat, auto, trailer, sand car, etc.) I always try to take the emotion out of it and approach it like a business transaction. This has generally served me well. 

I have learned so much from folks here who have graciously shared their knowledge and experience. I figured the least I could do is post my findings in an effort to give a little back. Hopefully it helps someone else. 

 
Grease Monkey said:
Talked with Grant during the Regatta. Mentioned you had been by to check out the cars and go for a test drive.  Once you meet Grant and the Funco family, you become family.

Congrats to you. Enjoy the ride.

:cheers:
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I was leaning toward Funco even before I met with Grant. My time with him and his family just made the decision pretty easy actually. I don't have the knowledge that many of you do so I will have to say, I asked a lot of dumb questions. Grant was very patient with me and took the time to answer everything and then some. 

When it gets closer to my build slot I plan to start another thread and seek input on features I should add and those I shouldn't. For now, I just have the challenge of waiting for my build time. 

 
Grease Monkey said:
Talked with Grant during the Regatta. Mentioned you had been by to check out the cars and go for a test drive.  Once you meet Grant and the Funco family, you become family.

Congrats to you. Enjoy the ride.

:cheers:
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Dockmaster said:
I was leaning toward Funco even before I met with Grant. My time with him and his family just made the decision pretty easy actually. I don't have the knowledge that many of you do so I will have to say, I asked a lot of dumb questions. Grant was very patient with me and took the time to answer everything and then some. 

When it gets closer to my build slot I plan to start another thread and seek input on features I should add and those I shouldn't. For now, I just have the challenge of waiting for my build time. 
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What model Funco are you building? I read about the 4 seat vs 2 seat but dont recall the model.

 
All great cars.  Welcome the Funco family

 
Grease Monkey said:
What model Funco are you building? I read about the 4 seat vs 2 seat but dont recall the model.
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Current plan is to use the 4 seat chassis for added headroom but build it in a 2 seat configuration. Car will be 98” wide for ease of trailering but will have the 3.5” shocks . So does that make it a stretched GTX or a shrunken GTU or something else? I’ll let Grant tell me what it’s called in due time. Current thinking is a 440 with 4.5 Whipple tuned for pump gas and a S5D trans. Likely will go with the Holley screen and ecu as I don't think I need all the date logging and features of Motec. 

 
On 1/26/2024 at 9:23 AM, tjZ06 said:

Sorry, but I completely disagree. 

First of all, Funcos don't just slide when you hit the turning brake.  In fact, I rarely touch mine unless I'm basically showing off/trying to scare a new passenger.  Second, it really, really, REALLY isn't just the tires. 

I had an SCU Pro Bro, which is a great handling car.  I put the exact Funco rear tire setup on it (purchased directly from Grant) and yes, it slid better, but not nearly as good as my Funco.  I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't owned both.  And my SCU was no slouch, it had a high-compression (race gas sometimes, E85 others) 427cui LS7 and I had done a lot of updates to it (including a rear sway bar which helped it slide as much, or more than the tire change).  I wish I could explain how or why Funcos do what they do, but I can't.  

So I guess it comes down to this: what are you trying to do?  In theory, in the right section of dunes a mid-engine should be "faster" through a section (though every EPO has disproved that).  In practice nothing dunes as fast as a Funco, and nobody is having more fun than the Funco owner.  If you're racing against the clock worry about dreaming up and building the thing that will "slot car" through the dunes, if you're just out there for recreation (like every single one of us are) if you can do it, buy a Funco... really it's that easy. 

FWIW on the wheelie topic, here's me goofing around...

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Did you feel like the sway bar addition was worth it?  Do you remember what it cost you?

 
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