New member USA

Just joined from Texas USA. I am interested in building a Toyota Powered (3SGTE or 2GRFE) Stratos reproduction and I am trying to find out if anybody makes body kits, chassis kits or such stateside. The Hawk and the Lister are beauties, but shipping, duties etc make them a bit spendy for a weekend garage project. I wish I wanted to make a Cobra. You can't type in "Kit" in the USA without getting a dozen for sale.

I have owned everything from early BMW 2002, 914, mid years 911, Early 930, MKI MR2 (lots). MKII MR2(almost as many), Pontiac Fiero, Porsche Boxster S, Mazda RX7 GSL, Lotus Elise SC. The last one is the trouble maker. After driving it I am in constant pursuit of something that gives as many grins. Probably should have kept it, but I was moving and thought I could replace it later. I am still looking.

Ciao and welcome here to all this STR maniacs!
the only way is save money and than buy this
http://www.listerbell.com/news/149-toyota-v6-chassis
or win a lottery.

saluti Enzo

Enzo,
That was what I saw. After buying the kit, shipping it and paying duties, I could have bought something quite fine finished (Evora, Noble, Cayman S, even Ferrari 355!)
I am holding out hope that someone has imported and given up, or there is a domestic maker of the body at least and I can have the frame fabricated locally.

Hi, there is no current body publicly available that is in production in the U.S. You might be able to find an unbuilt kit, but that is unlikely. There haven't been that many kits shipped here. There was a mixture of stratos replica and real body parts on hemming about 6 months ago. Not sure if those sold or if there was enough to piece together. Welcome and feel free to ask more questions.

Nothing Stratos on Hemmings at the moment.
I will lurk and hope. Maybe something will come along.
I am not too optimistic since I doubt that there are a dozen kits stateside.
I did however buy a Lottery ticket...:cool:

Hi & welcome to the club. Where in Texas are you?
There are 6 or 7 Hawk kits in the USA and Canada that I know of - of which only one or two are on the road and they are in the Great Lakes area.
Lost contact with one that was near Amarillo.
There are 3 Napiersport Corse I chassis, mine, Paul's in California and Corky's near Seattle.(both Paul & Corky have put Lister Bell bodys on) and one Lister Bell(Bosmass) with others on order.

Look on the members map to see where people are.(Olmannchen's avatar in Laredo should be in Germany)
Mindofone in Plano is the member who had the Stratos bodywork for sale.
You are welcome to visit and see mine if you are in the area.

I am in Fort Worth.
Does anybody know what happened to mindofone's stuff? It would be a lot easier to pick up a partially completed kit nearby than to have it shipped!
I would love to come take a look at yours. How far along is it and what powerplant have you selected?

He has not been on the forum since Jan this year.

It looks like with the help of a couple of club members I will be getting a Hawk/transformer kit. I am super excited to be joining the club soon and will certainly have many questions for those of you who know these cars so well! I am so glad that I found this site and this group.

Strange to choose the hawk, as I didnt know thy offered a chassis for the Toyota engine - while ListerBell have a purpose made chassis to accommodate the shape of the Toyota engine.

Don't think Gerry offers owt bar Alfa or 246/308. Itll be the usual case of sort it yourself. Get the feeling it'll be either fit the engine 6 inches higher or new rear frame with redesigned wishbones/links etc.

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Originally Posted by turbonutter

Strange to choose the hawk, as I didnt know thy offered a chassis for the Toyota engine - while ListerBell have a purpose made chassis to accommodate the shape of the Toyota engine.

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YOU're absolutly right Neil ; plus the fact Craig's bodywork is so easy to fit on the chassis and less work with final aspect due to the fact LB panels are directly in colored gel coat !!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by turbonutter

Strange to choose the hawk, as I didnt know thy offered a chassis for the Toyota engine - while ListerBell have a purpose made chassis to accommodate the shape of the Toyota engine.

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Should have made it clear that I have found a complete, older HF2000. It is not just a kit and it is in the states. So shipping will be a bit, since it is 1300 miles (around 2000kms) away, but less waiting, less shipping etc than trying to buy either kit new.
In the states there are so few kits or cars available that I am amazed to have found one to purchase in the first place. I also looked at it and came to the conclusion that, while I have the capacity to modify the chassis, if I need to, I can not generate an entire kit (especially the body) out of thin air. This is a complete car, that needs a thorough refresh, but I intend to drive it on its current motor for some time after I get it sorted. At that point I will do some more engine research. Looking at the weight, power, cost etc., I see why so many favor the Alfa 164 motor. It is light, relatively powerful, and makes good sounds for a V6. I may already have been convinced to use this as a future upgrade, unless I can work out a source for a 3 liter QV.
I have decided that I could trade a bit of performance for the right "feel". It seems that many replica owners have done the same thing. While a 2grfe(or any number of modern aluminum block engines) offers great performance, they may lack a bit of something "Italian".

Thanks- that makes much more sense!

the later 164 has a 24v motor- not sure if it came to the us though. The problem with the 12v is to find spare parts as they are getting a bit old!

Yes we got the 24 valve too. I think those parts are actually more expensive than the 12 valve tho here.

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Originally Posted by bosmass

Yes we got the 24 valve too. I think those parts are actually more expensive than the 12 valve tho here.

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After a look around there is no economical incentive to the DOHC. I assume that there is a performance bump, so I will do my best to get the later variant if possible.

It is here. Big thanks to the members who made it possible. How incredible this has been! Attachment 7638 Here is a shot of my good friend and mechanic (he works on Toyota MR2's but has a Norwood turbo kit on his 1978 Ferrari 308). Despite having his own "real" 70's Italian supercar, he was super jealous. Who could not believe that he got to see one in person, and drive it of course!
We got a lot done in one day, but have a long way to go.
http://youtu.be/nGT3c8IYi5k

That does look nice, I like the nice clean lines of the Stratos without lighting pods on the front.



That said if I got lucky on the lottery then I'd be rallying in the forests with a fully stickered-up Alitalia replica with enough lighting to illuminate the moon :cool:

I am going to do a bit of what we call Rallycross here.
When I asked about classing my car they wet themselves. It is nice that the Stratos reputation extends even to the provinces! ;)

Great looking car !