Stratos in Waashington state mystery

[tipo158]

I am a member of the local vintage race car group known as SOVREN. Many people I know in the group, know about my Corse kit. I have heard several stories about a person who had a Stratos here in the Seattle area who wrecked it. For the last coupe of years I have been trying to track down this car. I finally contacted the original owner and found out the he sold the car as a 'parts' car. He thinks the person who bought the car, rebuilt it using a frame for the UK. That sounds strange to me. He also said that he used a Fiat 124 engine. Were there any kits from the UK that used (or recommended) a Fiat 124 engine? Did anyone in the UK ever make a chassis the could be used to rebuild an original Stratos?

Back to the accident. It appears that he learned the hard about driving at high speed with a short wheel base car of rain soaked highways. In his terms, he swapped ends and crashed backwards off the road. He didn't get hurt, but his passenger got a badly broken leg. He didn't tell me what shape the car was it. I wish I would have known about it back then.

Corky

[ChrisCar6]

No kits used a 124 engine as designed.
There were two replica body shells produced by a Motorsport company whose name escapes me just now. One was built into a car and the other supposedly was stored in their factory. There were reports of bodyshells being produced in France in order to capitalise on the huge prices commanded by originals by cloning genuine cars. Never saw any proof of that though.
You can't re she'll an original into a Hawk/Corse shell. Can't think how he'd re she'll it - would it be panel repairs?

[Guy Mayers]

Hi Corky, there's never been a UK manufacturer who made a Stratos Chassis for a Fiat 124 motor, the engine lacks a casting on the block to support an intermediate shaft. The Lancia Beta was the donor of choice for both Hawk/Allora (and later Litton & CAE) in the early days. Superficially it's the same motor but the Lancia installation is more inclined backwards meaning oil drains int he head & cam boxes are different too.

I believe that there was a UK chassis manufacturer that made a limited number of replacement chassis back in the early '90s. If the name comes back to me I'll post it. There is a possibility that Omicron in the UK have one that's owned by a Japanese collector who bought it thinking it was original but didn't complete a rebuild when he found out it wasn't real... That's more than a few years ago and I've never seen the chassis, only repeating a story I've heard!

Guy

[ChrisCar6]

Lightbulb has come on.
It was Gartrac that built the two shells.

[ProtoTipo]

The Fiat X1/9 Abarth used the 124 Abarth engine in both 8v and 16v.

[ProtoTipo]

Guy's right about the oil drainage differences, so the X1/9 Abarths must have had cam box mods?

[Guy Mayers]

It would depend on the installation Chris, if the engine could be installed upright then it would be Fiat heads, inclined back, Lancia heads? Abarth blocks may have been cast from Lancia blocks if they wanted equal length shafts otherwise they would have had to use a longer one on the right hand side.

Somehow I can't see an Abarth X19 getting broken to restore a Stratos replica!

Colin Artus might be able to shed some further light on Gartrac(well remembered Chris)? My memory isn't what it was but I thought I'd heard at least three were made (via Gerry)

Guy

[ProtoTipo]

Somehow I can't see an Abarth X19 getting broken to restore a Stratos replica!

I didn't mean that the engine would have come from an X1/9 Abarth. Just to say that it is possible to fit a 124 type engine in a transverse set up. It's been done.
I doubt in this case it actually was a 124 engine though. I suspect that it was referred to as a 124 engine, because the Spider is the first car you'd think of (Stateside at least?) when you think of Fiat's twin cam?

As far as I know, only the group 4 Betas and X1/9 Abarth Prototipos used the 124 Abarth engines in a transverse and canted fitting? It's just the cam boxes that are different for canted engines, not the heads. I know David J. had to mix and match with one of his Allora bound engines (from an upright Abarth Strada 130).
I'm not sure if the X1/9 Abarths had long and short shafts like a Monte, (or early FWD Beta), or not?

Here's a nice X1/9 Abarth replica for sale. One of the few competition prepared X1/9 Abarth cars was actually fitted with an 8v engine in period, so its use here is authentic.
Polish X1/9 Abarth replica.
Note the (non FWD Beta) type water outlet on the head and the distributor position.

[tipo158]

Here are some photos of the car, it was the chassis that was supposedly purchased from the UK. Since it is an original, the driver was on the left, you can see why the passenger got a badly broken leg. I'm going to see if he remembers a VIN, that might help track it down. Wonder how much a non-original chassis will lower the price.

Corky

PS: I was pretty sure that no UK manufacturer made a kit with a Fiat engine option.

[ProtoTipo]

That's an original car alright. It's bent, rather than cracked!
What a shame?