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Big 5 Gen IV Big 5 Gen V Hustler 4 Hustler FUNCO OWNERS FORUM
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CHECK OUT OUR CARS NEW !! Big 5 Gen IV Big 5 Gen V Hustler 4 Hustler FUNCO OWNERS FORUM |
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Car specs and pricing Why our cars work so good Assembled Cars Motor Options Seats Options Other Options Details and setup
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About the founder
With Gil's interest in racing he happened to walk into a small startup company in Ontario called Hooker Headers. He asked Gary Hooker if they needed help. After Gil showed Hooker a set of headers he made for his drag car he started working there making tubes for $6/ea. Gil made lots of money that week, more than GM could offer him. As a result of that 2wks of GM idle time Gil never showed up to work at GM in Orange County. With Gil's hard work, innovation for manufacturing efficiency, and high energy level, he eventually became part owner of Hooker. Life was good. Then he met a fellow in the racing community that invited him to Pismo Beach one weekend. This person happen to have a VW pan dune buggy with big tires on the back. Gil simply had a ball driving through the dunes in this car and immediately start thinking about a tube frame design, which didn't exist in the market at that time. Gil made a few frames in his spare time to try racing against Jeeps in the desert, which was very successful. One thing lead to another with people wanting to buy his light single seat VW powered race cars. When tension grew at Hooker Gil sold out and started Funco Motorsports which was spawned by a 10pc order of his first production car called the SS1 (single seater, gen 1). Gil found that racing wasn't as much fun as duning, so fabrication of sandcars eventually became the primary focus of the company. When Gil found out about Glamis and started spending time there, that was the start of something very special, the Bandito. This design was extremely popular in the 70's, they sold like hotcakes. Just as fate worked during that 2wk period of idle time at GM, that visit to Pismo was the next turning point in the George family. Today Glamis is Gil's home away from home for many weekends during the duning season. The company has since grown into a multi-million dollar business that Gil had never imagined back in the 60's, and it's still growing. Gil's constant curiosity for refinement and his ability to develop new technologies in the product has kept Funco at the leading edge. Funco products are recognized as the Rosetta Stone for sandcars. Everyone compares their cars to a Funco, it's the car to beat. If you want to learn about suspension, steering geometry, or weight distribution, Gil can tell you more than you'd like to know. He has spend thousands of hours studying and experimenting on these subjects. These issues directly affect the handling of a car, and that's what makes a Funco superior to other cars. Gil's "matter-of-fact" personality is quite refreshing when you get into a conversation with him. He's very passionate about "how things should be done" and will freely tell you why. He's a wealth of knowledge if your thinking of buying a car. Whether you buy a Funco or not, you'll definitely learn something talking with him around the campfire.
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Gil George migrated to
California in the 60's from Michigan where he worked for General Motors in
chassis and body fabrication. Gil was interested in racing and made some
very fast cars for their time, setting a record or two in class. But
racing had limitations in Michigan with the cold winter weather. Given the
lack of opportunity at GM in Detroit, and one very cold night shoveling snow out
of his driveway he decided it was time to seek a new life out west in warmer
weather. Gil put in for a transfer to an Orange County GM plant which lead to him to moving his family of 5 across country. Interestingly
enough, once Gil arrived in California the transfer paperwork was going to take
a couple weeks to complete (there was no internet of course) before he could
start work, so he had a couple weeks to relax. One problem, Gil doesn't
relax much. 