The beginning. I posted up a wanted ad for a sterling and this one found me. It's a pretty decent body, running a 1200 singleport, and most importantly, registered correctly as a special construction vehicle here in California. The biggest issue I had with the shell is it missing its roof. I assume a previous owner wanted the open air experience. I however, do not. So I reached out to Nik, who was incredibly patient with me, and sold me the orange spare body he had.
MB Sterling
- Thread starter Baz
- Start date
The beginning. I posted up a wanted ad for a sterling and this one found me. It's a pretty decent body, running a 1200 singleport, and most importantly, registered correctly as a special construction vehicle here in California. The biggest issue I had with the shell is it missing its roof. I assume a previous owner wanted the open air experience. I however, do not. So I reached out to Nik, who was incredibly patient with me, and sold me the orange spare body he had.
Here are both side by side. I'll be putting the spare parts back up for sale once I have a complete shell.
The 1200 in the red car has an interesting 4 into 2 into 1 exhaust setup. These aren't unheard of, but what makes this one different is that the correct cylinders are paired together, so that the exhaust pulses are all 180 apart. Usually both ports on one each side are combined together, which from what I understand is not as good for performance, as you have two exhaust pulses firing right after eachother, followed by nothing, as the other side then fires. This is all a moot point as I won't be keeping the vw powerplant, and unfortunately 1200 engines have narrower exhausts and don't bolt up to the usual dual port engines used for higher power builds.
I have many ideas for this build, and am excited to finally get to start on this project.
I have several other cars and projects going, along with a house renovation, so this really will be a slow build. I'm inspired by all the builds like Brett's, that not only had a vision, but most importantly, got finished. I hope you guys enjoy this build, and also hope I don't get too much flack for some of the questionable choices I'm bound to make!
The idea for this build started about 10 years ago, when I was living in the UK. I got my hands on a new eagle shell. It had never been built, and was the ford version which had it's own space frame chassis.
I moved to the US a a year after getting this, and had intended to ship it over here at some point. Then years later the pandemic happened and shipping prices never recovered. So rather spending thousands on getting the eagle shipped here, the hunt for a sterling began. This brings us to present day. I still have the eagle, but it won't be coming to the US any time soon.
I moved to the US a a year after getting this, and had intended to ship it over here at some point. Then years later the pandemic happened and shipping prices never recovered. So rather spending thousands on getting the eagle shipped here, the hunt for a sterling began. This brings us to present day. I still have the eagle, but it won't be coming to the US any time soon.
The first steps are going to be assessing which parts to use from both shells and moving the rest on, so that I can get my drive space back. I also want to get the engine running, cleaned up and sold. The gearbox is no use to me, but it's nice to have the car rolling, so that will stay for now.
The red car has some interesting looking taillights, one of the better modifications I've seen. I think they're from a fiero?
Hard to see, but they do suit the rear. I won't be needing then though, so more parts for the move on pile.
The red car has some interesting looking taillights, one of the better modifications I've seen. I think they're from a fiero?
Hard to see, but they do suit the rear. I won't be needing then though, so more parts for the move on pile.
The red car is number 33 (stamped backwards?) from Sterling component cars midwest.
The orange shell is 275 from California component cars. The stamped number looks a little off, and it almost looks like a different number was filled over.
I'm hoping that there was only one set of moulds and that parts from one will fit the other.
Hi there! Welcome to the site. It looks like you have all the parts to end up with a very nice build. I recognize that red car and — aside from hacking the roof, which is painful to see — it looked like a pretty solid build.
The canopy from one *should* fit the other. That said, all of the canopies/bodies have little wonky nuances to them. Don’t be surprised if you have to do a little body work if you want panel gaps to be really symmetrical. The canopy in all my cars seem a little set inwards from the body at the top left corner. And some aren’t quite in plane at front corners. But you only noticed these discrepancies if you’re really looking for them. Definitely let us know how they fit when you get to that stage.
The canopy from one *should* fit the other. That said, all of the canopies/bodies have little wonky nuances to them. Don’t be surprised if you have to do a little body work if you want panel gaps to be really symmetrical. The canopy in all my cars seem a little set inwards from the body at the top left corner. And some aren’t quite in plane at front corners. But you only noticed these discrepancies if you’re really looking for them. Definitely let us know how they fit when you get to that stage.
Brett Proctor
Well-known member
From my experience
Don't throw away anything.
If you still have it after the build and you haven't sold it with the old shell, only then toss it if you have no need for it and its just taking up space.
Don't throw away anything.
If you still have it after the build and you haven't sold it with the old shell, only then toss it if you have no need for it and its just taking up space.