Vauxhall Chevette Estate Painted & Stratos FOR SALE!

[@Ralph2]

I love the fact there are people out there who are prepared to spend serious money turning a Honda Integra into an Austin Allegro. It greatly appeals to me even though I'm not a fan of either car. I guess that's diversity. I also love any conversation about car weights below One Ton. The weight of modern cars makes me weep.

[@18robsmith]

I'm awaiting one of those Allegro to draw up at the lights alongside a chav in his tarted up not-so-hot hatch at the lights......

[@GuyChapman]

You can really start to see Churchill's final shape now. Bloody lovely.

[@EdgyNumber1]

Large crystals within the structure (caused by rapid cooling) give less opportunity for each one to come apart and you end up with a harder material. Cooling slowly allows crystals to propagate meaning there are far more opportunities for each crystal to come apart, softer or more easily breakable material. This is why, if you need to harden steel without changing its alloy composition, cold quenching is one way to do it. Cryo-cooling is used for extreme applications such as steels used in pin sharp blades.

[@vogs72]

Explaining your choice of welding rod on a wiper arm is exactly the reason I watch IYKYK, but you’ve never assumed.

[@engineer6250]

When melting your lead, consider throwing a small candle or brokep tea light, which should help burn off any impurities. This often done by the shooting fraternity when recycling lead in order to cast bullets.

[@markrainford1219]

Throw it where?

[@jmaitlandthomas]

​@@markrainford1219over your shoulder

[@savm8571]

Regarding the Stratos. If it could play it's own song it would be Hotel California. Hope it finds a new owner that can see it through and enjoy it. Thanks for the updates as always.

[@glennp9904]

I notice you leave joins in stainless exhaust with discoloured areas. I understand you can clean this off with a pickling solution. In Australia at least you can buy this in about a litre bottle from welding stores. Not real expensive and makes the joins much nicer.

[@onemanhisdub1969]

Chevette! My first car. Gold two door. Still miss her now ❤ P plate if i remember correctly.

[@moonface978]

I seem to remember that p plates in general suffered with rust much less than other cars across the board as they were built in 75/76 which were very dry long summers

[@onemanhisdub1969]

It had rust on top of the front wings. Buy it was original rust and no filler. My best friend had the bronze viva! Those were the days.

[@moonface978]

@@onemanhisdub1969 They did a Viva GT coupe , lovely looking car , would love to see what these boys could do with one

[@philtucker1224]

Yes too true! (Mind you I expect the car was probably crap but as a teenager it’s the memory of who you had in the back that you have sweet memories of ha ha!) keep well buddy 😊🙏

[@philtucker1224]

Cal, can you (or do you) make bespoke plastic wheel arch liners for these retro mod cars - when required?

[@carynelson8536]

Expansion tank explainstion i will use... Thznk u... Cary My maunganui...new Zealand

[@simonhodgetts6530]

My word, that Stratos is astounding!

[@garrygreenstreet9622]

Thanks for another great video. Loving the green on the Chevette, can you name it if it's an original colour? 😍

[@johnbriggs3916]

You know, I was just thinking that it was the most hideous colour that I had ever seen 😉

[@philtucker1224]

Yes it looks original, the flat colours were absolutely awful back then! Reminds me off an old window cleaners wagon…

[@bigpete4227]

That’s a great colour on the shovit. My mate had a beige one. Reminds me of that. Pukka.

[@peeteeuk]

Really?

[@bigpete4227]

Yeah, really.

[@964cuplove]

1:36 the reflections on these parts are amazing…

[@markellis796]

Nice pants Nat, you'l fit right in with that Alegro.

[@julianstarkey9301]

Interesting explanation on the wiper spindles.

[@andrewlitchfield4843]

Sunday evening is complete!

[@keithfarrell3370]

Fantastic stuff fellas.

[@jambacardi2474]

I think we all wanted to know what's the asking price for the Stratos

[@GuyChapman]

If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.

[@fraserwright9482]

€330k, but TBH this is a good example of where Retro power screwed up. The Stratos is a ListerBell kit who took months/years to do their bit. Engine options are Ferrari V6, 328 V8, Bussi, Toyota V6. The supercharging of a Busso took a year to do and still is not right. Most LB Stratos use the Toyota V6 with a supercharger ala. lotus Evora. So now after 3 years or more it's with the customer and it's failed to be fun.

[@dancarter482]

@@fraserwright9482 Good point - well made! Sadly often the way with vanity projects that run away with themselves.. ... In direct contrast to the original ethos of custom car resto projects.

[@Stratosphere-GT71]

@@fraserwright9482 Most LB STR's are fitted with the Alfa Busso motor, there are a handful out there with the SC Evora engine and also a dozen or more with the NA 2GR motor as well.

[@fraserwright9482]

​@@Stratosphere-GT71that is the £65k question. ListerBell sell a sorted STR and you can see they went off on cnc bits and keypads, then 3 years later telling the bloke he could have fancy taillights now they have a CAD bloke. It's a lesson on getting cars out the door and then booking them back in to refresh them or learn from real world testing so they can focus on the production process as they have 4 cars they are trying to tweak instead of 1.

[@SharpblueCreative]

When you compare the original Stratos concept car the Stratos Zero to the eventual Lancia Stratos that arrived, there is a lot of differences. I love the Gandini Bertone design of the Stratos.

[@mattjones5272]

Great video as always, love looking at the craftsmanship that goes into all your builds But I think episode 500 the stratos will still be in the workshop lol

[@LizardCustom]

Most hand pinstriping is in enamel and as such quite raised and normally not clearcoated look at the custom world and if I remember Rolls Royce and classic coachbuiders pinstrips are not cleared ...might be wrong ?

[@mattsmith4053]

Best bit about using proper Honda bits is they're the only (afaik) company who built primary design right hand drive front wheel drive cars, with the heaviest 2 bits of the car (engine and driver) on opposite sides to each other. Shame they went all conventional primary LHD market later on.

[@markmiwurdz202]

@mattsmith4053. You may already know this. In Japan, they drive on the left just like here in the U.K. And the Japanese have a cold snowy winter season. So when our car manufacturers went into decline, the Japanese marques cleaned up! Their cars were already RHD - plus they were built to withstand the rigours of winter motoring. Stay safe and well.

[@stephen300o6]

Be less stone chips on the Morris if the wheels were inside the arches.

[@monkeybarmonkeyman]

Someone's going to be very pleased when they buy that Stratos. Very sweet car 🙂

[@philtucker1224]

I expect (someone like) Sebastian Loeb would like the Stratosphere in his collection 👌

[@fraserwright9482]

I actually think it will be brought but not driven. It's appeal is as a show car for you to drive somewhere and people look at it at Caffeine and Machine. Not for doing laps at a track day and getting love tapped by an E46 or on a gravel road.

[@philtucker1224]

@@fraserwright9482 some collectors (mainly in California) like to collect certain marques so this will probably join one of those collections. (A lot of old millionaire guys like to have stuff to show their guests after dinner while the ladies chat..)

[@cm-oo1td]

​@@philtucker1224I think he would prefer a real one 😮

[@VinceBShad]

Unfortunately you need to be in the silly-money league to afford what is really a still-not sorted kitcar. You could have 3x decent Lambos, F cars, or 3x 100 grand well sorted classics for this money. You're also well on the way towards Kimeara 037 money. It's hard to see the value here

[@DessieTots]

That Chevette looks amazing but what happens if it is in a repairable crash or is stolen. Would the insurance company want to right it off? And how much does this work cost?

[@lesrush6298]

Can not remember when I last seen one of these cars let alone in good nick the chevette that is

[@johnsherborne3245]

Nat’s split die problem surprised me. Amongst your seemingly vast pool of talent can no one single point a thread?

[@darrenwhyman4539]

OMG chevette estate, my first car, given to me by my grandad, EMD622V in Red, be interesting to see this one finished. Me and dad sprayed it on the drive, and spent many hours welding plates all over it 🤦‍♂️ rear side windows kept falling out, did my head in. Sold it for £450 I hear it went to the scrap yard in the sky a couple of years later 😢

[@neilperry2224]

Why not find an American glass jar windscreen washer, and use that as zero air can..... It'll be in keeping with the age of the car. And if printed a Jaguar part with the font and a made in England script too. Just an idea. 😊

[@ms_zaku.1415]

💛Perfect​ion of​ Restoration.💛

[@Braveheart7914-idfl]

Sunday night ☕️ in hand ready for this weeks progress report 🙏🏻👍🏻

[@PoshTimmy]

Is there a sweepstake on the final kerb weight of the Allegro/s?

[@intergrale4x4]

Have you ever tried one of the water less coolant fluids ??

[@964cuplove]

Ah - I’m not driving a oldie just an 2015 car but I was wondering as well if it would be worth looking into that.

[@ldnwholesale8552]

Leno swears by it. And he has some idea.

[@neilperry2224]

After the Tiumph Acclaim, the Rover 213 was next crossover with Honda. And they also re-badged the Land-Rover Discovery for a couple of years.

[@micheltebraake7915]

Mirror finish on the Chevette, it didn't have that from the factory. The Stratos is definitely above my budget.

[@davidsellick9158]

Does the heat from the leading process affect the panels?

[@FTW523.]

I learnt to drive in a triumph aclaim

[@bigbird2100]

Great video 👍The Allegro story is sort of correct but as history will show a new small car can have bigger impact on a car company as rover Renault and Peugeot will show 😅

[@gazzafloss]

Nice work you chaps. It seems that the car "toys" are the first thing to bear the brunt of "financial incapacity". No doubt a hazard of working in the "bespoke realm".

[@dancarter482]

My brother restores wooden boats - gentleman's cruisers/yachts - same dynamic fluctuations.

[@ayocaritauu]

NICE

[@phillippowell3847]

Hi I wonder were you using a strait cut knurling tool as opposed to a pressure tool ?

[@karlwinter8645]

Nat would the Chevette wiper spindles be available to buy ?

[@1066wastrel]

What is the Autograph car? Did I miss something?

[@MadazzaMusik]

How much do you charge to get an old car on the road again

[@preonmodel9906]

As much as you can pay without the wife finding out about it 😅

[@SB-vb8ch]

100mm tb is way too big on the Stratos....not surprised you've struggled to get the low end playing nicely.

[@ChristopherHallett]

Yep - the sneaky secret with throttle bodies is that you want to use the SMALLEST unit you can get away with. And if your intake piping is all three inch then going with a 3.5 or 4 inch unit doesn't make any sense at all.

[@ichiban8558]

They do seem to be getting rather fanny’d around by punters at the mo’. With a three year waiting list on builds, you’d be fairly hacked off with skint customers fucking the workflow up.

[@philtucker1224]

Yes I expect it can be an occupational hazard when dealing with interim payments etc when dealing with projects that are always well into the multiple “three figure” category …it’s like building someone’s house!

[@russcooke5671]

But it’s still top class work. 👌👌👌

[@user-kd2lg4od1c]

What's the story on the small truck in the background?

[@18robsmith]

If you mean the Range Rover half covered by a sheet in the background of the Stratos section then it's a Range Rover that belongs to either Cal or Matt and they are slowly working on bringing it back to life and glory.

[@daniel_charms]

@@18robsmithThe Range Rover is Nat's. Cal's project car is the red BMW estate you see in the background when he's talking about the Morris and the Stratos.

[@18robsmith]

@@daniel_charms Thanks - I thought it was that way round, but had a moment of doubt.

[@raj-u6t1m]

Did you bankrupt the Stratos owner?

[@philtucker1224]

There are certain questions that are not polite to ash ha ha! 🤣😂

[@noskills9577]

“Economic downturn”

[@noskills9577]

Or maybe the wife found out 😂

[@18robsmith]

@@noskills9577 and that's way more painful than being made bankrupt ;-)

[@philtucker1224]

@@noskills9577 the fourth wife or the fifth wife?

[@adven999]

Why can't you single point thread the wiper spindles on the lathe...? Oh and when water turns to steam it expands approximately 1700 times..!

[@uliwehner]

lets just hope it does not turn into steam while you are driving then, that would be bad. Let's keep the temperature well below that. that way expansion is only in the 1 to 2% range or so.

[@AdamJRichardson]

I can't even imagine selling the Stratos after all this time and work on it - it's been in the shop since the very beginning of the Uncut episodes, if not earlier. I would try to hang on to it for dear life even if I was out of the country a lot. I hope Retropower has a financial cushion and is billing on a monthly basis so they don't get too over their skis with customers not paying or pausing work... Seems like an ominous trend

[@fraserwright9482]

You also have project creep, the ListerBell kit is built for £40-65k and they sell it on being a kit car without the quirks. Not a Hawk you build in a shed. Should they have gone as deep into making it different, the keypad switches, Supercharging a 30 year old Alfa V6, 3D printing tail lights after 3 years etc, etc. Should they have spent more time at the start pinning down a price, look or target, rather than coming to a component and then going back and forth rendering stuff at that time. The clients love the relationship of you sending them 3 shades of leather for the handbrake. But this is the result. A very flowery version of what is a simple car.

[@keithhoughton4308]

They did mention they usecmonthly billing a while ago. Getting them paid is more to the point.

[@Stratosphere-GT71]

@@fraserwright9482 A turnkey LB is approx £100k and upwards depending upon spec, those that are built in a shed would cost between the £40 & 65k you mention. There are a couple of LB's on Car & Classic currently for comparison. Blue wheels I think have to be described as a quirk.

[@andrewirving9860]

Dissimilar welding Nate? I think you were referring to 304 stainless steel as 303 is a road in the South of England, and usually 309 stainless steel welding consumables are used for mild steel/stainless dissimilar joints. Love the channel, Andrew from Cornwall

[@graemebrown7691]

Made me go and check my dissimilar rod, it's 309L

[@richardhasler4795]

Very nice as ever. Is Stevie Wonder part of Gaz’s paint and prep team, perhaps on quality control? Ha ha, just asking.😂

[@garythompson5703]

No but you can pop down and do it if you like👌🏼

[@RPM.Retropower_Marc]

Gaz he is on about the poster you bell sniffer 🤣🤣

[@chrisslater3174]

What's in a name? Despite it being based on a desirable vehicle (but with much improved build quality), I would not spend that much money on something called a 'Redux'. Renault 'Wind', anybody?

[@sishabadab6570]

Stratos for sale. ? £300k. ?

[@russcooke5671]

No way. 90 grand tops

[@GingerPiston]

@@russcooke5671You’re delusional my friend if you think a custom hand built piece of expert engineering would go for under £90K. While I’d hate to speculate, yer man shisha above is probably in the ballpark. Consider that the Redux BMW M3s that they build are £330K.

[@ichiban8558]

I seem to remember that’s it’s a Lister Bell replica and not a genuine Lancia Stratos. Hard to put a value on it.

[@blackdoublezero]

@@GingerPiston Jonny Smith mentioned in his podcast that the Allegros are £250k a piece

[@lutherblissett9070]

They should raffle it

[@Danger_mouse]

35:20 Long winded explanations stop and Cal comes on ... for 15 mins 😳

[@DericO-rz3be]

STEALING A JUMP ON JONNY SMITH'S ALLEGRO K20 BUILD

[@interesting7906]

Orange stripes on Project Cuma! The Chevette green is hideous sorry. In 2000 I bought a 60s ranch-style house in Jersey that had a kitchen with original appliances with that color.🤢 The sight of that is sickening. How do you come up with these colors?😵‍💫

[@philtucker1224]

I think it is supposed to be in “original spec” colours for this project ( very popular back then - especially in kitchens and bathrooms ha ha! ) 😂🤣- are you Jersey U.K. or Jersey N.Y. Buddy?

[@interesting7906]

@@philtucker1224 Dirty Jersey of course. NJ USA, 🤣 This color is a nail in the dik hole! I thought the point was to evolve the car and move past their obvious shortcomings...my mistake.😉

[@stevepearce1913]

The Mk 2 Jag really should have had it's roof chopped by at least 4 inches as it looks far too high after it was converted to a two door.

[@marcusott2973]

Making it unusable as a road car, most chopped cars are terrible to drive, you can't see out your neck is always crinked .... better not, especially not 4 inches. I once had to set up hotrods on an airfield for a magazine cover shoot, a very unpleasant experience.

[@uliwehner]

maybe if the owner wanted to give it to his 12-year-old to sit in and make vroom noises. An actual adult would not be able to sit in a 4 inch chopped jag, or just about any other car for that matter. The only car that ever needed to be chopped was the model t doctor coupe

[@mattsmith4053]

It's not a kustom. As far as I can gather it's built to look like what a factory MK2 jaguar coupe would end up as.

[@mccornchip]

Talk, talk talk, talk, talk, talk, make coffee, talk talk, talk, talk, talk, body work, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, fix a leak, talk, talk, talk, talk. It’s getting hard to watch sorry guys.

[@preonmodel9906]

Bit repetitive and like a sales talk , when I can’t sleep I watch retro power. Bit of music and editing might make it exciting? 😅

[@johnmorrow7080]

I've put dozens of them front ends over the years LOL .

[@Rwecosher]

I wish Nat was my journeyman. I’m 38…

[@philtucker1224]

What is a journeyman please?

[@Rwecosher]

@@philtucker1224 to my understanding, it's who an apprentice learns from

[@chrispy104k]

@@philtucker1224 Ever heard of Google??????

[@markmiwurdz202]

@philtucker1224. A journeyman is a time - served, qualified ex - apprentice, formally trained in his chosen craft. The title "journeyman" is based on the tradition that once your apprenticeship was completed, you were sacked/fired. (The reason for this was given that if the ex - apprentice stayed on, he would always be "the boy"!) The newly qualified tradesman took his skills and "journeyed" through his chosen trade, presenting himself to prospective employers as a time - served, skilled man. But - believe me, that's only the beginning. It's a bit like getting your driving licence. You achieve a standard of competence and qualify to drive unaccompanied. But thereafter, you "really" learn to drive! Stay safe and well.

[@Southgoapetsittingservices]

Have you seen the Alegro that FabCo UK are building for Johnny Smith from The Late Brake show and if so what do you think of it?

[@Southgoapetsittingservices]

Does putting in so much lead add significant amounts of weight to the vehicles?

[@tinolino58]

To speak fluently in English must be very difficult 🥲