Birmingham, AL - The first 2006 F131 Hellcat to be produced by Confederate Motor Company in the company's new Birmingham plant recently rolled off the line.
Hurricane Katrina destroyed Confederate's New Orleans headquarters last August. The company moved to Alabama in January.

Confederate's founder and managing director, H. Matthew Chambers, said a nationwide search for a new headquarters location included Atlanta, Austin, Boulder, Chicago, Dallas, Jackson, Pittsburgh, Shreveport and Santa Fe.

"The major catalyst for our decision to move Confederate Motor Company to Birmingham was George Barber and the remarkable museum he created,” Chambers said. “Mr. Barber is a design genius and his commitment to motorcycles is second to none. The special team that he presented to us was by far the most professional group that we met anywhere across America, and it can only be described as a brain trust for automotive excellence."

"Since moving to Birmingham, we have found many more reasons that have reinforced our decision as a wise one," Chambers added. "Not only is there a tremendous tooling and manufacturing capability - where we can get new parts produced almost as quickly as we can design them - but we have also discovered tremendous business development and marketing support services in Birmingham.”

Chambers founded Confederate in 1991. Working as a Baton Rouge attorney at the time, he left his successful law practice to concentrate on making the motorcycles he wanted to ride.

He said production of the company's new B120 Wraith model also is commencing.