The "Has It Been Done?" question:

"BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast." (boxerfanatic) 07/21/2015 at 16:02 • Filed to: None

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There are Lancia Stratos replicas, such as this Lister Bell version.

However, I have never heard of, or seen pictures of, an open-top version. Yet curved-windscreen cars do look good with no top. And are also much easier for taller-than-average people to get in and out of.

So, I am wondering, if anyone has surgically removed the roof and re-sculpted the top edge of the glass on a Stratos, even if the B-pillar roll hoop and air-foil is left in place...

On a secondary note... I wonder if such a body would fit on a Factory Five 818 chassis... a great concept, badly in need of an actually good looking body, which Factory Five seems unable to accomplish, despite the project starting with a design competition with publicly submitted entries, that were all summarily thrown out the window.

I can only imagine the epic awesomeness of a Subaru RWD mid-engined lightweight chassis, under a Bertone-designed Stratos replica body, sans roof, as a barely-street-legal road/race car.

I know that Factory Five doesn’t say that the chassis has enough engine bay length for a flat-6, but I can only imagine the insanity of a rebuilt-for-turbocharging SVX EG33 engine with twin turbos laid out like a Ferrari 288 GTO/F40’s engine bay.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 07/21/2015 at 16:07

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I know that Factory Five doesn’t say that the chassis has enough engine bay length for a flat-6,

Irrelevant. Where there’s a will, there’s a way - and by will, I mean “a passenger compartment”. A cylinder under one’s right buttcheek is a way to put your horsepower needs at their goolies-warming best priority.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/21/2015 at 16:31

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That is kind of what I was thinking... a sawzall and some steel tubing can extend the chassis a few more inches if need be.

With a little italian aesthetic flair... EG33 has some casting ribs that can be machined...

Turbos and intercoolers (or liquid charge coolers) behind the cylinder heads and intake manifold is a ready-made setup for SVX’s rear-facing dual-throat throttle body, and exhaust manifolds on the bottom. Two turbo dumps, and a waste gate behind, or even just above the transaxle, is do-able, to.

It may not be a flat-12... but flat-6s are pretty much just as smooth, and only half as long... and it already has more displacement than anything short of a Ferrari 348.

Imagine that with the weight of an over-grown go-kart, and a targa/roadster-ized Stratos.

The stuff of automotive dreams.

DogonCrook > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 07/21/2015 at 18:20

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Less Italian but more compact would be a rotory. A W-6 might as well but it may be a bit tall.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > DogonCrook 07/21/2015 at 18:51

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A Wankel Rotary would be great fun, too, and I like the idea of wankel rotaries for race cars.

Unfortunately they take a bit more fabrication to use in a mid-engined layout, as they have to be mated to a Subaru or Porsche transaxle, where a Subaru engine and transaxle are made for each other.

I don’t really see the advantage of a W-6 over a flat four or flat 6 longitudinally mounted, and it would raise the center of gravity, and have less aftermarket support.

greenagain > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 07/21/2015 at 22:12

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I think the weird cockpit shape might make it look odd.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > greenagain 07/21/2015 at 23:04

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I guess I am not quite sure what you mean about cockpit shape...

How is it any different than having the roof off on the Koeniggsegg, or an open-top lotus?