Would this car be a candidate to convert to LHD or is it too much work to be practical? It is difficult for me as I have no cars to look at here in Canada. Buying sight unseen is never good either. Without offending anyone which is next to impossible these days, are there certain renditions of the Stratos that are less desirable than others? I realize that the build quality is the most important factor though. In my case the car must have been built at least 15 years ago to be eligible for import. Any and all comments appreciated, thanks.
As I understand it the car is not registered and therefore you may struggle to prove it ' over 15 years old.
The kit which forms the basis of this car is well over 15 years old though if that would satisfy your import authorities.
Converting the Corse chassis to lhd is fairly straightforward.
You would need to cut out the front bulkhead which mounts the pedal box etc, and turn it round. The custom steering rack will convert by popping put the pinion and reversing it.
Other than that you will need a new dash moulding, but thats about it.
James, if it's the date of the construction of the kit, that's LB (ListerBell) out as they've only been around since 2010. So you've got, from the earliest kits in 1986/87, the Handmade Allora and Transformer HF, then the Allora became the Litton Corse in 1989, and then in about 1992 it was taken over by CAE. Following that it again changed hands to become Napiersport, in about 2004, which ceased production in...actually I'm not sure, but think it was about 2012? The Transformer stayed in production all the time, but a there was a name change to Hawk HF3000 - still under Gerry Hawkridge's ownership, and still going today.
All these cars have been improved or re-engineered as time went by, as certain donor parts became scarce, or to provide a better product (when the Allora became the Corse, for example, the chassis was totally redesigned). As you rightly say, the build is all-important, although with the age of some of these cars considerable rebuilding and restoration could have occurred, which could also have included engine swaps from the Lancia Beta twin cam to the Alfa V6.
The car you're looking at here seems to have been produced in 1992, but I don't think it's actually been registered, so that could scupper your plans anyway. As for conversion to LHD....well, anything's possible, if you're clever enough and/or have enough money! No doubt someone with more experience will be along shortly to give you a yay or nay on whether it's a practical proposition.
....ah, there ya go, John's posted while I was typing this
There are LBs in Canada - if you look at the club member list you'll be able to discover who's got them and where they are - so there must be a way to get them into the country. Or does it vary by state, and BC has particularly tough legislation?
Last edited by Normb666; 13-05-2021 at 20:49.
By the way, meant to say - the cars that are undesirable are just the ones you can't buy for whatever reason
Have you seen the Pirelli Hawk car on Ebay? There's a whole thread on it on the forum...and the price keeps going up and down....!!
The consensus on this car is that it's overpriced but as it doesn't appear to be attracting bids the seller may be amenable to offers? Maybe not but....
Being an early Hawk (or late Transformer) it is possible to convert this chassis to LHD but there's a compromise as the spine of the car is offset to the left to give more foot room in the right. It's about 3/4 inch which doesn't sound much but does make it a little cramped down there. Add to that you'd want to move the set closer to the centreline for driving comfort then the rear bulkhead might need moving slightly. More complex is moving the seat belt upper mounts to suit - just weld on a wrap around bar is the easiest solution. Pedalbox will probably need a new upper bulkhead making. Dash obviously, that's the opportunity to convert to Group4. Steering is actually better as LHD allows a direct route from fixed upper column to rack with no additional intermediate shaft. The wiper should also be swapped to the other side of the plinth leaving a hole to be filled/adapted for a fire extinguisher or battery kill switch. There are a couple of minor technical points too that shouldn't put you off. The main concern with the eBay one is the description on the V5 as still being a Lancia which might cause import difficulties. Not sure what the rest of the description of the model is but that might help?
If you want full details I'll try and find the full thread on covering it. Basically what I did to my car a few years back and John did to a car exported to France a year or two back.
Guy
Litton corse,it was posted in a reply provisionally sold on Kit Cars Facebook page last night. Hopefully a good result.
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