ListerBell Stratos

[renmure]

TheJimi said:

Am I understanding this right - you're getting the livery painted on as well?

No, sloppy photo-shopping but the car will be painted white and the Alitalia stripes will be painted.
Suppose what I meant was that I've never seen an Alitalia car without the standard bundle of "Alitalia" and "Lancia" and "HF" logos with it.

[renmure]

TheJimi said:

Sorry, confusion reigns!

I was just wanting to be sure that I'd understood the above (my bold) correctly in that the Alitalia livery is being painted on

Ok, I'm with you now, I think! So photoshop above is what you're hoping to get painted? Cool

I've edited my original post.... incase the paintshop is reading

[renmure]

.... and after months of no updates they are now flooding in!!

I got some pics today of the car getting ready to head off to the paint shop.









Plus, after all the debate earlier about maybe getting some slightly wilder profiled cams to get a bit more power but also a more race-car like lumpy idle I heard that the reprofiled cams had been returned to the workshop and would be fitted after the car passes the IVA test.

And..... I got a date early in October for the IVA test itself!!

Whoop whoop. It's been quite an exciting day.

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456mgt said:

Well done for your new found patience

As you know, I really don't have any

MDifficult said:

You have the patience of a saint

A saint would blush if they heard the little frustrated voices in my head at times

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A white gelcoat being painted white isn't really going to be a crowd puller but I took the opportunity to go see the start of the paintwork. I guess it will be more exciting over the next couple of weeks when the red and green paint gets splashed on but progress is progress.

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Thanks.

Teaser pic...





The painting is coming along nicely. Should be completed next week and hopefully I'll see the finished results at the end of the week. Masking up the lines for the Alitalia stripes and design is a bit more tricky than perhaps anticipated but will all be good in the end. IVA test has unfortunately been pushed back a month or so but I can live with that in order to get the paint right.

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P5BNij said:

Fantastic build, absolutely love these. Is there a reason the LB Stratos doesn't have twin fuel fillers like the original cars...?

Thanks.

No idea. Until you mentioned it I hadn't even noticed.
Looking at pics of my engine bay the engine position means there certainly isn't room for a 2nd fuel tank on the other side so I guess the original Dino engine made that possible. Not sure the reason for perhaps not having a dummy one but I'll ask someone who should know and get back to you.

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.... just sharing my excitement for anyone still interested.
It's certainly all coming together nicely.

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P5BNij said:

Thanks - the reason I've noticed is that the details have been boring into my brain over the past couple of months, in my head I've been speccing one up even though there's little chance of me ever buying one! I've pawed over all of the Stratos books I bought recently, googled for photos of the real thing and replicas, and can picture my ideal version - a RHD Stradale in blood orange / red with gold alloys, white Bertone and Stratos decals, carpet to match the body colour, suede seats with tan coloured inserts, a Ferrari style gearshift gate, Alfa V6 powertrain and a period reg' number, but I can't decide whether I'd have the roof aerofoil and rear spoiler or not.... it's all pie in the sky really but it's nice to dream a little.

Well, I spoke to the man who knows everything and it’s simply because the Alfa engined car only has one fuel tank so only needs one filler cap. Some folk have built their replicas with a dummy filler on the other side tho. Being honest, I may have given that a bit more thought way back when my bodywork was being done and long before it was painted but on the flip side I’m not really looking for a final car that’s intended to fool anyone into thinking it’s an original and is more of a homage. Plus the fact that until you mentioned it I’d never even noticed

I should have a good photo update soon I believe it’s nearly done. Exciting times

[renmure]

P5BNij said:

Thanks - the reason I've noticed is that the details have been boring into my brain over the past couple of months, in my head I've been speccing one up even though there's little chance of me ever buying one! I've pawed over all of the Stratos books I bought recently, googled for photos of the real thing and replicas, and can picture my ideal version - a RHD Stradale in blood orange / red with gold alloys, white Bertone and Stratos decals, carpet to match the body colour, suede seats with tan coloured inserts, a Ferrari style gearshift gate, Alfa V6 powertrain and a period reg' number, but I can't decide whether I'd have the roof aerofoil and rear spoiler or not.... it's all pie in the sky really but it's nice to dream a little.

'Mine' would look something bit like this....

Just as an aside, it’s great that we all like different things. I was mentioning today down at the LB workshops that I was only ever interested in the wide body, OTT looking, group 4 cars with big fat tyres and as many wings and vents and scoops as you could have, all wrapped up in a lairy rally-rep colour scheme with a rasping loud exhaust. I’d probably never have expressed any interest in the Stradale version and yet I look at the pics of “your” car and think how great it looks.

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P5BNij said:

Funny how the mind works isn't it - don't get me wrong, I love the full on motorsport look too (I've just bought Graham Robson's Stratos book which is crammed with period rally pics) but I'm drawn even more to the simplicity and purity of the white prototype as it was first shown in '71 and the subsequent production Stradales as they came from Bertone's factory...

Apologies for hijacking the thread but these have really got under my skin just lately....

Haha, ya can’t hijack a Stratos thread with fabulous photos of Stratos. Keep them coming!!

I know you’re not alone and in the Stratos Enthusiasts Club forum (google and join in) there’s a whole range of owners, builders and general enthusiasts with as much interest in the prototype and stradale cars as the rally reps.

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In keeping with the pics of original cars, here are some pics of "my" car competing in the 1977 Tour de Corse








And a sneaky 30 second cropped bit of video of the car running in the rally.

Edited by renmure on Saturday 10th October 14:06

[renmure]

Meanwhile....

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Adam B said:

Brilliant

Sounds lovely in that rally video, what engines/power did the rally cars run?

Thanks.

I'm no expert but I think it was between 280hp and 330hp depending on the regulations of the year. At about 880kg that probably felt pretty rapid going straight forward, never mind sideways

P5BNij said:

When you come to register it, will it have a period number on it or will it have to be registered as a 20 plater....?

It will be registered as a 2020 car.
I'm torn between buying a 1977 S-suffix plate or using one of the "cherished" V6 XXX plates I've already got for it. I'll probably finalise that when I've physically got the car and see what looks best.

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Final update from the paint shop.

Next step is getting it transported back to the LB workshop to have the windscreen, windows, seats and interior fitted. An IVA friendly dashboard will go in as well as a nice IVA compliant exhaust. I believe that the full decal set will be going on during the time between now and the IVA as well although that might depend on timescales.

[renmure]

There are some great Stratos videos out there.

This is the one that caught my attention last year. The whole presence of the car with the combination of the Alitalia livery, Group 4 exhaust, the noise and the flames just seemed to capture what I'm looking for in mine when pootling off down the McDonalds Drive-Thru lane

[renmure]

davidexige said:

renmure said:

There are some great Stratos videos out there.

This is the one that caught my attention last year. The whole presence of the car with the combination of the Alitalia livery, Group 4 exhaust, the noise and the flames just seemed to capture what I'm looking for in mine when pootling off down the McDonalds Drive-Thru lane

Well seeing as it's left hand drive you'll need a passenger to collect the burgers, so I'd better come with you

You're too tall :P

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DJHay said:

On the back of this thread I've been looking at photos of the various Stratos kits over the years.

The majority of the built cars I've come across are either the Stradale type without the wider rear end or if they are the rally car derivative they have the wider round arches at the rear. You've gone for the squarer box arches and I didn't appreciate the difference previously. It terms of the set-up or build of the car does it make any difference?

I've also seen lots of photos of wider rally based cars but with the standard Stradale dashboard. Can you simply mix and match body styles and interiors when you buy the kit rather than having to chose which type of car you want to build?

I just thought the square arches looked a bit more brutal and purposeful. At the beginning I thought that the square arch cars were the rally cars and the rounder arch ones were the road cars so I started off on the wrong foot and I missed the bit of subtlety where there was a cross-over between the round arch cars and the square arch cars.

These pics are from the 1977 Tour de Corse and show both Alitalia liveried Stratos cars in the rally with Pinto driving a square arch car and Munari driving a round arch car. Both look ace but I prefer the first one. There's no difference in the mechanical bits or suspension bits, just the rear bodywork.





In terms of interior, yeah it's just a case of pick and mix with the interior and exterior. I expect most folk going for a full rally-rep exterior like mine would go for the group 4 dash and I think everyone going for the Stradale exterior would go for the Stradale dash. I've not seen a square arch car that isn't a rally rep. The bit in the middle would be a wider round arch car with a stradale dash and I've seen lots of these. I guess any of the kit companies will sell you whatever you wanted tho.

[renmure]

Escapegoat said:

Oilchange said:

For me the round arch (lower pic) looks a bit better but hey, both are fab!

I think if you opt for the front light-pod, you sort of need the butch rear arches, or else it looks a bit under-cooked.

The Stradale is the better-looking car (IMHO, YMMV), but it doesn't have the same presence.

I don't think there's a wrong choice.

A triplet of green ListerBell rears. Stradale, round and square.

Edited by renmure on Sunday 11th October 15:21

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A minor thread bump.

Some things taking shape now in prep for the IVA test with rear lights fitted.