A Brief ' Sterling ' History:
The first site of the Nova in the USA was when the 1973 issue of Car & Driver hit the newsstands. The response to this article was overwhelming, and Richard Oakes and Phil Sayers, the designers of the Nova in the UK, were inundated with letters from the USA, including over a thousand people that wanted dealerships. Several of those interested visited the UK, but the two that seemed the most adventurous were Norm Rose and Cecil Robertson. Not long after California Component Cars was born.
Production began in San Lorenzo, California in 1973. By January 1976, CCC held the license to manufacture Sterlings anywhere in the world, as well as opening a second production facility in Illinois. California Component took over existing contracts in Australia and Holland, and licensed new manufacturers in Scotland and Venezuela, while the UK continued to produce kits for the UK and overseas. A front cover photo and article in Motor Trend in November 1976 continued to keep the car in the public imagination and sales continued to soar. A total of (roughly) 875 were produced between the two manufacturing facilities owned by CCC. In September 1978, CCC changed ownership, and the Sovran body is produced with mixed reviews. Squared off wheel wells and a monocoque body and slightly larger dimensions highlighted this version, and by mid 1979 the first bodies were taken from the molds and were for sale later that year. From 1980 onwards, Sterlings were now known as Sovrans. Total production numbers are not known. In fact, only two of the square wheel-welled Sovrans were ever photographed, and that was in a dealer showroom. Best estimates are under 5 bodies; one was sold overseas (VIN #001) by a club member not too long ago, and another running car was for sale in the UK about the same time.
In 1983 CCC changed ownership again, and the Sterling nameplate was revived, back with proper rounded wheel wells, but all the Sovran's other features. This version became known as the Sterling GT or Sterling Sovran GT, depending on who was selling the car. Total production numbers are again not certain for this version, but conservative estimates are below 10 units.
Ownership of the molds had changed hands after the GT, most notably to a company called Redhead Roadsters in Washington State in the early 1990's, but I am unaware of any cars that this company produced. From Redhead's demise, the molds sat idle until Mike McBride started Solid Sterling in the mid '90's, producing a handful of turnkey cars and spare parts. Solid Sterling was retired in 2006, and half a year later Dave Aliberti brought the molds to Pennsylvania to start Sterling Sports Cars near Pittsburgh.
The Sebring....a Sterling sibling:
In the mid '70's, a small company called Custom Coach Builders started producing a variant of the Sterling called the Sebring. Custom Coach, we believe, was a company that was hired to pull bodies for the then present California Component Cars Midwest plant in Illinois. Al Hildenbrand, one of the lead engineers for fiberglass and production for CCC at the Midwest plant, felt that the Sterling could use a "facelift" and more user-friendly seating. He approached the owners of CCC with a pitch to redesign the Sterling with a higher roofline and redesigned cockpit interior allowing for more headroom and storage space. That plan was rejected. So, Al went out on his own and bucked the Sebring himself - no molds were apparently used from the Sterling at all, according to recent finds. Recent information from original owners is placing the Sebring as being introduced in 1976, with the car body fitted Sterling style to a VW pan. First and second generation Sebrings all had fiberglass floorpans that were already lowered. The floors were a seperate mold, so there will be variations on floors - some cars will have retained the stock VW pan. The nose was chopped back and the headlights (open on early Sterlings) were now retractable. A functional bumper was added to the front for extra protection and the headlight placement was raised to meet minimum federal requirements. Two rows of louvers lined the hood to provide cooling for water cooled engines with a front-mount radiator, and the lower body scoops prevalent on the Sterling were eliminated. The cockpit was restyled to provide more headroom and a slightly larger engine compartment. Al's vision for the Sebring was to make it street legal in all 50 states, passing all federally mandated safety features. First generation Sebrings have a canopy "cut" very similar to the Sterling. It was these cars that Al approached Bremen Motors to mold and build. When demand outweighed production, Al bought Bremen Motors (and introduced a score of other style kit cars). Al at one point started ARX Industries and together with Bremen, restyled the Sebring with a deeper canopy, longer tail section (for larger engines) and a few interior styling changes. The Sebrings were known as the Turbo - for the fact that Bremen had initially planned on installing turbo VW engines, but when that didn't pan out, they found that a watercooled GM engine would work just as well. Many Sebring Turbos left the factory with 3.8L GM engines under the rear deck! When all was said and done, and the kit industry started to fold once again in the early '80's, the Sebring total production run between the first and second generation didn't exceed more than 450 cars, which is surprising considering how popular the kit was!
The Cimbria: First Cousin, once removed...
In 1978, yet another entrepreneur took hold of a Sterling and molded his own version. Joe Palumbo founded Amore Cars in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with the Cimbria (body basic to the Sterling, mounted on a VW Beetle chassis) and the later Cimbria SS with a fully integrated monocoque body and roll cage. First generation Cimbria are roughly the same dimensions as the Sterling. First generation Cimbria featured doors that were not cut to the sills, but ended at the bodyline and were hinged very near the edge of the roof. In subsequent models which became the SS, the doors were cut deeper to the sill plate and the doors were hinged closer to the centerline of the roof. The early SS featured a split rear hatch reminiscent of the DeTomaso Mangusta, but overheating problems with air-cooled powerplants led to the redesign with the monocoque body and open tail much like the Sebring. One of the unique features of the SS was it's well designed fresh air vent system. Early cars had vents at the base of the windshield and at the front of the car leading to integrated, molded pipes that lead into the cockpit. Later versions did away with the windshield vents, but retained the nose openings. Once again, production figures are not known, and estimates are around 500-600 vehicles built.
In the early 1990's, Neria Yachts in Wilmington, North Carolina, built their own molds from a purchased Cimbria and had a limited run of cars called 'Nerias', with a severely modified shortened nose and the options of a full tube chassis and modern running gear.One of our members remembers seeing at least 10 finished vehicles in a Las Vegas dealership or car show, but I've never seen one come to market. One more builder in Canada who also has a version of the Cimbria, called the 'Bernardi'. Sterling Auto Classics in Ontario shows a single finished car on their website (for sale last time I looked), but I have been unable to confirm any others produced.
What does the windshield come from??
Sources from interviews of Richard Oakes when the car was first debuted wrote that Richard did not want a pre-existing windscreen (i.e. from a donor car) as that would hamper the design process. From that, a custom windshield was designed just for the Nova, and was manufactured in the UK.
All information above is deemed as accurate as the facts I have currently. If there are errors, please contact me and I will post the corrections. Thanks to Steve in the UK, Nick B.,Warren D. and Cliff D. for background information. Other information provided by Auto Logic Publications 'Supercatalog of Kit Cars', 1983.
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