More information on this subject gained at Goodwood on Saturday when we were lucky enough to be introduced to Dave Scheldt in person.
When Scheldt and Pettet bought the car they raced and hill climbed from Germany they also bought two damaged cars for knock down prices for the spares they could salvage. Dave told me that one car was bought for an intact windscreen alone!
It was one of these damaged shells that Stuart Gross took the moulds from for the Allora.
Dave told me that it had a damaged A post and roof above had reportedly been damaged by the drivers crash helmet from within. Ouch!!
Dave lives locally to Goodwood now and was interested and kind enough to allow me to take his photo next to Frederics car.
'Talking to Craig at Phil's last week, and he doubts that anything (Allora) was moulded from this tub, but probably the front:Originally Posted by john
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3382/3...48a_z.jpg?zz=1
So it looks like this second S&P tub could have supplied the mould for the centre section?
Anyhow, that's a great bit of Stratos replica kit history you've found out there John. Thanks.
"Stratos at knocked down prices" That's not going to happen again, is it?!
Last edited by ProtoTipo; 17-12-2023 at 07:54.
Thanks John,
wonderful story! so we know some more about the Allora moulds.
It certainly goes a long way to explain why the Scheldt & Pettet race car has always appeared to be straight & the Allora moulds appeared to be from a damaged car.
Nice to get some actual facts to add to the history of Stratos replicas.
its a shame Stuart didn't mould that round arch rear canopy when he was in the process as that would have saved many Corse owners hours of fun converting the Stradale rear to round arch Gp4.
"You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead"
Stan Laurel
Ain't that the truth! Shows how things change over the years. That in those days you could buy a damaged car just to salvage the windscreen! A genuine chassis number plate would be worth a fortune on its own today.
Dave was a nice guy to talk to and a shame the pressures of the day did not allow me more time. He is clearly a respected figure in the Lancia world and probably a fountain of valuable knowledge on things Stratos.
I read a nice article recently written by Derek Bell talking about the restoration of his own Fulvia entrusted to Scheldt and Pettet.
Hi John
At least the roof is in good shape ! The engine has been doing that famous party dance, in out in out shake it all about, but now back in and alls well. We need to catch up so will ring you in the next day or so.
Hey Simon! Good to hear from you. I've got Frederics car here at the moment if you want to have a look and inspire yourself for that last push!
As an Allora owner this is an interesting post. One thing i have found is not the flat roof (mine is flattish ) but the curve from the roof to side panel (B pillar) is unequal side to side. My tub got damaged some years ago in an RTA and has been repaired using a side panel from a Hawk but I purchased a Corse centre tub couple of years ago. It would seem this tub has the same issue re the curve / shape of roof to B pillar so i can only assume was made from a modified Allora mold
All the Corse bodies have a connection to the Allora moulds. I'm sure that the Allora moulds came as part of whatever deal was arranged for the project. At some point these moulds maybe got modified to try and eliminate some of the issues with the LH sill & door line. From memory CAE had some mods done, maybe to the section of bodyline just behind the front wheel arch. The later Tony Favarin moulds were only a rip off of the existing Corse ones but in this case the flat roof was reshaped to be convex rather than concave. All the other issues I am sure were carried over. The Favarin bodies are distinguishable because of their weight, whilst the original Corse bodies were not a great fit you could move and manipulate them to get them to be the best they could be. The Favarin body I saw (Mick W's) I think was probably bullet proof, it was twice the thickness of a conventional lay up and it was so rigid that where it sat was where it sat.
As talked about in the depths of this forum the Corse roof probably got more concave over time, the early Allora's still had the convex roof but as the years went on the roofs got flatter & flatter. This was because the centre tub mould had no stiffening frame and the weight of the mould sat on the roof section during lay up. The longer it sat this way the more concave the panels became.
"You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead"
Stan Laurel
I must have been really lucky with my tub then. AFAIK, I had the last moulding Hugh made and the roof was pretty good. I think you even commented on it once didn't you Craig?
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