Any Stratos/replica owners in the midwest(USA)?

[Pete Gossett]

I have always been a Stratos fan, and have been toying with the idea of building a replica. However, I have never actually seen a Stratus in person, and would like to have the chance to at least see one before starting any large project.(I had considered a Pantera before, but a short test drive proved the car to bee too large and heavy for my liking.)

Are there any Stratos, or replica owners in the midwest - specifically near East-Central Illinois?

Pete

[mogul_x]

Pete,

Welcome to the Forum. Always good to see another member on this side of the Atlantic.

I'm sorry to say that I'm not aware of any Strato's that are in your immediate area. That's not to say that there isn't one - I'm just not aware of it if there is. I know there are a few of them over here (real and replica) but the club is still in the process of finding out where they all are.

The nearest car to you that I am sure of is in Sterling Heights, Michigan. It's a Transformer / Hawk replica with a 2-liter Beta engine owned by Steve Stahn. It's about six and a half hours drive from your location, so it's not exactly convenient.

If I discover one closer to you, I'll let you know. If there's anything else I can help you with please let me know.

[Pete Gossett]

Thanks,

Glad to know I'm not the only looney on this side of the "Big Pond".

Did anyone ever get a Hawk distributorship started in the US?

Pete

[mogul_x]

Pete,

I don't know if "distributorship" is quite the right term....

Steve Ramm was the U.S. rep from sometime in the late 90's until last year. That role has since been assumed by Jeff Davison.

Jeff is a member of this Forum - try looking him up under "J" in the members section if you want to contact him. Jeff should be able to send you a copy of the latest brochures, literature, and hopefully current price lists.

Either Jeff or I could give you some feel for what is involved in buying / importing / building a kit, since we both imported cars directly from Hawk cars in early 2002. Since Jeff has taken over as U.S. rep, I don't know if he's had the opportunity to import a customer car.

Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know.

Scott

[Pete Gossett]

Actually, I was curious about donor cars - what are the best options in this country? I must admit, I'm not very familiar with Alfa's.

I it better to source as many componets as possible from Hawk, or are suitable donor cars readily available here?

[mogul_x]

Originally posted by Pete Gossett
Actually, I was curious about donor cars... Is it better to source as many componets as possible from Hawk, or are suitable donor cars readily available here?
Pete,

You'd probably have to do a little bit of both. Most of the donor pieces are easy enough to obtain over here, and not too expensive. A few of the donor bits are impossible to get Stateside, and will have to be gotten overseas.

For example, there are a lot of Lancia Beta, Fiat 124, and Fiat X1/9 parts used, regardless of which engine you decide to use. Headlight buckets, electric motors, ball joints, gages, halfshafts, radiators, door handles - the list goes on and on. Since all of these models were imported here, there are lots of ways to get parts for them. Italian car specialists, E-bay, even the local auto parts store in some cases.

The Hawk HF, and some Corse models, use front stub axles from a Fiat 132, a model that was never imported here. Hawk cars maintains a small stock of these items, and they're very scarce elsewhere, so you might want to order these items from Hawk. You'll also need front wheel bearings from overseas. Hawk also offers reproductions of some rare items, like correct taillights and side marker lights. These can also be gotten elsewhere, but Hawk's prices are competitive, and buying these along with the rest of the order can make things a little easier.

Most of the really hard to find parts are only a problem if you want a rigorously authentic replica. I'm talking about gnat's ass authenticity here. Correct front indicator lights, license plate lamps, steering wheels, and trunk locks are hard to come by, and can sometimes be expensive if you want the genuine article. If you are willing to substitute less authentic but more readily available items, you can save some time and trouble.

My advice would be to check with Hawk cars, and compare prices with domestic sources. If you can get it cheaper from Hawk, do so.

As for donor engines, both Alfa 164 and Lancia Beta engines can be had relatively easily. Unfortunately, both tend to be a little more expensive over here than in the UK, since we had many fewer of the cars imported originally. The Beta will be cheaper to buy and "soup-up", and it weighs quite a bit less than the Alfa, but the Alfa has the right sound, and is probably a little more driveable, since it is a larger, torquier engine.

The only real problem you'll have getting an Alfa is if you want a rare model, like a 24 valve Quadrifoglio 5-speed. If you stick to the 12 valve engines, you shouldn't have too much trouble. 5-speeds are still a little harder to find than automatics, though.

If you'd like some more details, feel free to ask.

[Steve_R]

Scott,

What ever happened to the yellow HF with the 308 engine? Last time I remember it being somewhere in the Ohio area. A friend of mine wants to check out a kit and he's in the Ohio area. I mentioned that you were in Pa, but on the wrong side of the state.

Anyone know where the 308 powered HF is?

-Steve

[mogul_x]

Steve,

That yellow 308 powered car was from somewhere a little west of Harrisburg, I think. Probably about 2 hours closer to Ohio than I am. I don't know what the current situation is with regards to a sale. I think Jeff had been in contact with a friend of the owner - perhaps he has more up to date information?

[x19er]

Steve R.

This was the last I heard of it. It is a post from Jeff Davison on the Yahoo group about a year ago:

I have just recieved a bit of unfortunate news from a freind of the
owner of the Yellow 308 Ferrari engined Hawk HF Stratos replica.

Due to an illness, the owner wishes to sell the car to an appreciative
person. The car is said to be legally licensed and titled in the state
of Pennsylvania.

I have seen the car the last 2 years at the Carlisle Import Show. It
is really set up for rallying and racing but still very streetable.

Pictures of it can be seen here:

http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/stratosreplicaclub/lst?.dir=/Yell
ow+Hawk+with+308+Ferrari+engine&.src=gr&.order=&.view=t&.done=http%3a/
/photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/stratosreplicaclub/lst%3f%26.dir=/%26.s
rc=gr%26.view=t

If interested please contact Norman Dinberg at (814)676 8012
for more information.

Asking price is in the low $40k's, probably nogatiable

I am not involved in the sale, just passing the information along.

Jeff Davison


If you found out anything, please post the info.

John

[Pete Gossett]

With the Alfa 164 drivetrain, are there any limited-slip differentials available for that transaxel?

[mogul_x]

Pete,

There are limited slip differentails available for the 164 drivetrain, but they're VERY expensive.

Doing a quick search through the old posts, it looks like Quaife offers a limited slip unit for Alfa 164 at about 500 Pounds ($836 at the current exchange rate), and a company called Gripper offers one for 750 Pounds ($1254 :eek: ).

There is some doubt as to the availability of the Quaife units. the last couple of people who actually bought one seem to have chosen the Gripper units.

[Pete Gossett]

Yikes!

Are there better LSD options with the other(normal)drivetrain possibilites?

[chris.richard]

Basically I think the Gripper is the only real go-er.:(
I don't think Quaife have every actually manufactured a unit.

[mogul_x]

Originally posted by Pete Gossett
Are there better LSD options with the other(normal)drivetrain possibilites?
Pete,

If by "normal" you mean a Lancia Beta drivetrain.... It doesn't look too good.

A quick look on the internet yeilded only one source with parts for sale: http://www.stdperformance.com/offer_en.htm

They have a limited slip unit for Beta listed as a special for 955 Euro ($1,111US :eek: ). Regular price is 1368 Euro ($1592 :eek: :eek: )

There are probably others out there for Beta, but I couldn't find them with a quick search. The only other "standard" drivetrain is a Ferrari unit, and I can't imagine that parts would be any less expensive for one of those.

You might have better luck finding a limited slip diff for one of the Japanese drivetrains. Of course, there's nothing "standard" about fitting a Honda or Nissan engine. I think at least one owner in the UK has fitted a Honda v-6, but I'm not sure if there have been too many done outside of Japan. Also don't know how well Hawk cars supports them. You'd probably need to have several parts custom made. Maybe somebody else can comment?

[Zarathustra]

Dennis McCann has his Stratos for sale in Ohio.
It can be viewed at: www.allferrariparts.com

Click on the cars for sale link.

There are also one or two for sale at the Motorcar Gallery in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. (A Geneva Show car).

Happy huntin,
Gary Robinson

[Pete Gossett]

Wow, what a nice car.

Unfortunately, my budget limits me to a replica.....or fining one parked in a rural barn with an unwitting owner.:p

Which actually brings up another question: Of the original Stratos produced, how many are accounted for, and how many are M.I.A.?

[chris.richard]

I'd love to know the answer to that. I suppose quite a few were written off rallying, but did all of the road-going ones survive? How many were unsold and converted to Gp IV?

[tryphon]

Famous Stratos collector Thomas Poper has at least 380 documented in his registry.

[colin artus]

Its interesting that in the early eighties Jolly Club, the semi works rally team, built a number of Stratos road cars (in the teens I think) from spares and extra chassis units left over from Bertone.
Were these chassis already included in the 500 that the FIA saw and supposedly inspected for Homologation? And there is also the matter of the loss of completed units due to a building collapse; did it realy happen and how many were lost or cannibalised?

Colin

[tryphon]

The FIA never saw 500 cars, 110-140 at the maximum.
Bertone claim they honored the initial Lancia order of 1000 shells.
However they only have documented 501 and noone believes they built more.
Grifone chassis were from the same Bertone batch. Their scocca numbers could not have been extended or re-engraved.

[mogul_x]

Originally posted by Steve_R
What ever happened to the yellow HF with the 308 engine? A friend of mine wants to check out a kit and he's in the Ohio area. I mentioned that you were in Pa, but on the wrong side of the state.

Anyone know where the 308 powered HF is?

According to the new owner:
Originally posted byT910GAL
The car is now located in Franklin, PA. The town that is approx 1.5 hours north of Pittsburgh, 1 hour from Youngstown Ohio.

If anyone would like to look at it if they are in the area, please feel free to.

Hope this is more useful for your friend.