THE FUNNY FACTORY

BLUE BAYOU

WHAT IS A FUEL FIND?

Fuel Find: The Funny Factory
By: Kenny Youngblood
All photos courtesy of Army Armstrong

CHECK OUT MORE PHOTOS IN THE GALLERY!

Turning racing interests into businesses in not uncommon in the high performance industry, and so it was for The Funny Factory; a business born of necessity!

“We were mainly racers” says founder Army Armstrong, “so I guess The Funny Factory was kind of an accident. Four years ago, we wanted to build a ‘69 Charger bodied Funny Car but settled for a ’72 Vega, when we couldn’t find a Charger body.”

The team however, didn’t give up their search for the Dodge body and finally got word there was a mold for one “hiding” in Chicago!

After a few phone calls, Army and his crew made the road trip and purchased the mold. As it turned out, it was the same mold that had given birth to the fabled “Chi-Town Hustler” body, many years prior. The John Farkonas designed Hustler had an offset motor and driver location, and, it was the first car to have a roof hatch; one that flipped open on the driver’s side of the roof. The original “cut line” for that roof hatch was still in the mold!

Once home with the body, Army looked for a fiberglass shop to lay up a body, but with no success. “We talked to four different shops. Three of them laughed at us and the fourth wanted an arm and a leg, so, we decided to try it ourselves!”

That one-off project grew into a company that is now a leader in the cottage industry of nostalgia funny car bodies. “We currently produce Vega, ‘Cuda, Nova, Duster and Corvette bodies, with more on the way. Our next body is a’71 Mini-Charger and after that, we’ll be starting on a ’65 Corvair and ’74 Camaro.”

Army and company have even bigger plans however, as they are presently building and moving into a new and larger facility. “This will give us the room to add a chassis shop in addition to building the bodies; we’ll be able to offer complete nostalgia funny cars. We should have everything under one roof by 2009.”

The Funny Factory is also a great example of the reason nostalgia drag racing is so much fun; it’s all about the people involved! “Everything is being done by our family and friends; my wife Nicole and son Trevor, my dad Robin Armstrong and a good friend, Heith Fike. I have to give special thanks to Dennis Salzwimmer, who pushed us to do it ourselves, and for all his help and advice along the way”

“The best part of all this, is the people we’ve met and the friends we’ve made along the way, like Henry Gutierrez. We made a mold and body for him and now him and his gang are some of our best friends. Henry’s helping me get my own F/C license, so I can drive his all new ’72 Jungle Jim tribute car”

Armstrong admits however, that his most enjoyable moment is when he’s at the track and someone comes over to ask him where he found the body; “I tell them I found it in two five gallon buckets!”

Funny Car Factory bodies are not only high quality, but very reasonable as well. For more information or to order products, contact:

The Funny Factory
1-717-348-5174
80 Armstrong Lane
McClure, Pa.17841
Website: www.NostalgiaFunnyCarBodies.com
Email: army01@pa.net