Hello from Bend, OR USA

[retroracer]

Greetings all - so by way of introduction:

The Car: after a long stint on the waiting list, my Hawk Stradale kit shipped from England and arrived earlier this year (narrowly avoiding Tariffs). It a Hawk "Classico" variant, which I believe is Italian for "no instructions". Only joking. I fancied fabricating a few of the pieces, so the order reflected that. I did opt for the 5x108mm hubs though, which I might regret.

Shipping to the USA: the car shifted a little in the crate, but nothing badly damaged. I now own enough 6mm plywood to build a small aircraft and associated hangar.

Donor vehicle: Alfa 164 12V. These are not that common in the US so was originally planning on adapting a more modern V6 - but a 130K mile donor + spare (low miles) trans became available when I was in wait list purgatory - so that's the current plan.

Me: Moved from England to the USA in 1996, have rebuilt / modified various cars over the years, always had a hankering to do a full build from the basic elements. I have a deep love & appreciation for rally cars in general, and almost went for a replica 037 build - but decided that might be a bridge too far, hence the Stratos. Electronics Engineer as a day job, but have picked up enough Mech Eng. skills over the years to be dangerous. What I lack in welding skills I make up for with the angle grinder technique ;-)

Progress to date: Not great - taking it slowly and figuring out how best to approach things. The front suspension is in; front headlight assemblies are almost there, but lots (clearly) left to do. Currently making up a front grill; inner front panels are 90% there, just need a little trimming. Cooling / heating next!

Look forward to tapping the tribal knowledge and brain trust here as the tasks get trickier.



- Tony

[Guy Mayers]

Hi Tony, glad to hear you avoided the tariffs and are getting stuck into the build. If you change your mind on 108 hubs all those parts are available but probably best to stick to 98!

This is the right spot to share the build triumphs, frustrations and victories. If you're not sure about anything just ask as the wealth of knowledge here is amazing. You can email us Hawk Cars and we'll try to help as much as we can but this forum frequently gets you answers just as quickly and there are often differing approaches to questions!

Right, first comments - front suspension assembly, have you greased the upper pivot rod yet? If not can I suggest you do this ASAP? If you forget it and corrosion sets in it can get rusted onto the upper wishbone bushes and in the chassis tube making removal problematic later on. Assembly of all the spacers, shock absorber and wishbone is best done on a scrap cut down bolt on the bench before the pivot bar is used to push this out with the whole assembly offered into the chassis.

Headlights - when you fix the upper mounting to the bonded bracket in the top surface make sure you use the short bolts, if they're too long they will create a star crack on the top surface. Also, the vertical motor support should be bolted tight at the top but not at the bottom, it should have a little latitude to slide. If it's bolted tight the first time the car gets hot the fiberglass may be under stress and may move where the upper mount is bonded that can create a depression in the upper surface which will be permanent.

Good luck with building the light aircraft! It could be the first time a Newick Packers crate has flown without assistance!

Guy

[Involute]

Hiya Tony, I?ve found this form invaluable for information, and very welcoming, I hope the build goes well, I spent quite a few years working along the Oregon coast, primarily around Tillamook / Nehalem, whilst working on some of the Subsea cable systems, fantastic scenery and good roads in that part of the world.

[VeloceWhippet]

Hey Tony,

I'm going to need to make the trip down to Bend to compare notes since we're so close (just 6 hours away).

I must say, that lumber from the shipping crate didn't come from Home Depot. That's some good stuff.

Jeff

[Guy Mayers]

Just looked on the map to see where you two are.... I think I'm traveling with my wife to Vancouver sometime next September for a week or three to visit one of her friends and Seattle is on the visit list (assuming we can get a car across the border! If you've got the crate airworthy by then Jeff perhaps the transit time will be slightly shorter?
Guy

[VeloceWhippet]

Just looked on the map to see where you two are.... I think I'm traveling with my wife to Vancouver sometime next September for a week or three to visit one of her friends and Seattle is on the visit list (assuming we can get a car across the border! If you've got the crate airworthy by then Jeff perhaps the transit time will be slightly shorter?
Guy

By all means. If you're in Seattle, I would hate to miss the opportunity to get together.

Jeff

[retroracer]

Just looked on the map to see where you two are.... I think I'm traveling with my wife to Vancouver sometime next September for a week or three to visit one of her friends and Seattle is on the visit list (assuming we can get a car across the border! If you've got the crate airworthy by then Jeff perhaps the transit time will be slightly shorter?
Guy

Guy - Vancouver is a great spot to visit, maybe we can arrange to meet up at Jeff's as your trip firms up.

- Tony

[Guy Mayers]

Great plan! Now just to sort out how with my other half!

Guy

[ChimC]

Congrats on getting your project started @retroracer - if you don’t mind me asking, how long was the entire waitlist and order process. I’ve been on the waitlist to get on the waitlist for a year or so and had figured on min 3 years, so just curious about your experience. I’m cautiously optimistic that the tariff regime will change before I have to worry about delivery!

[retroracer]

Congrats on getting your project started @retroracer - if you don’t mind me asking, how long was the entire waitlist and order process. I’ve been on the waitlist to get on the waitlist for a year or so and had figured on min 3 years, so just curious about your experience. I’m cautiously optimistic that the tariff regime will change before I have to worry about delivery!

Thx! Once the deposit was put down / accepted, the delivery prediction from Hawk was 2 to 2.5 yrs. Turned out to be around 3 yrs with crating, shipping, etc.

From my experience, during the time I was waiting (the actual waitlist!), Hawk's prices increased around 20% across the board (think I worked out 22% from my option list) from the pricing quoted at deposit. So bear that in mind. I too am hopeful that the tariffs will disappear or be drastically reduced in the future.

I hear LB are no longer shipping kits to the US (just turnkey minus cars?), so either importing a built vehicle, a semi-built vehicle (eg. LB) or going with Hawk seem to be your options if you want to proceed. Let me know if you have more specific questions around this topic, customs procedure, fees, etc

- Tony