Striker MK3-ish from Holland

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HighOnThunder
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue Dec 05, 2017 11:06 am
Name: James

Striker MK3-ish from Holland

Postby HighOnThunder » Tue Dec 05, 2017 3:46 pm

Hi all,

Let me start with a quote I found on the forum.

pkuzan wrote:Hi,

There was a MK3 Striker. It had Chevette front suspension and a GRP tunnel. We did it to reduce the cost.

The factory did build a single MK3. It was yellow and was initially fitted with a Chamberlain built 1300 x-flow. We later fitted a 2.0 Pinto and sold it. The interesting thing about this car is that it was initially fitted with lower A frame at the rear like Caterham. However I converted it back to the twin watts linkages we know and love!

If this is the factory car it will have 2 unused brackets on lower tube of the rear bulkhead that the A frame once attached to. However I doubt this is the works car. I made a custom pedal box for the car that used Chevette pedals. The car in question seems to have an early removable pedal box using Escort pedals.

The Striker MK4 was essentially a full bodied Striker Mk3.

All the best,
Paul


Maybe I have the unicorn works MK3 Striker over here in Holland? According to a previous owner, it was built by the factory in 1988 and it has been yellow all of it's life. On the registration it is even called Striker MKIII. However, you wouldn't recognize it today, because it was rebuilt twice, the second time in 2005 after a crash that destroyed the front half of the car. It received lots of new parts, for example in-board front suspension with (what look to me like) Sierra uprights. It also got a RAW body, some digital gauges and in recent years Dominator headlights, Team Dynamics Pro-Race 15 inch wheels... Oh, and quite significant: it went from a 4AGE 16V to a 4AGE 20V Silver Top with modified sump, Omex 600 and a T50 box.

What doesn't match the description by pkuzan is that there wasn't a 2.0 Pinto in it, but a 1.6 Kent/X-Flow when it came to Holland in 1998. I haven't discovered anything that looks like an A-frame bracket, but I haven't looked very closely. It supposedly has a 1971 Ford Capri 1.3GT live axle, which also donated it's year of registration, so I don't have to pay road tax. I did find an unused bracket though at the very end of the frame, but that is probably for something else?

Image
Image

I just bought it so have barely driven it yet with this weather, but I hope to go out tomorrow. I'm 188 cm, 6"2, so I had to remove the seats and I sit on a pillow to fit inside!

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peter030371
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Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 1:37 pm
Name: Peter Smith
Location: Hawkhurst

Re: Striker MK3-ish from Holland

Postby peter030371 » Thu Dec 07, 2017 10:17 am

Welcome to the forum. Bit quiet on here at the moment but come the spring it should pick up!
Editor of 'The Proper Job'

Edd
Posts: 493
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:25 pm

Re: Striker MK3-ish from Holland

Postby Edd » Thu Dec 07, 2017 1:50 pm

Unless its been modified it's not a Mk3, the Mk3 had outboard shocks.
Edd

HighOnThunder
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue Dec 05, 2017 11:06 am
Name: James

Re: Striker MK3-ish from Holland

Postby HighOnThunder » Thu Dec 07, 2017 7:57 pm

Edd wrote:Unless its been modified it's not a Mk3, the Mk3 had outboard shocks.
Edd


Hi Edd, thanks for reading everything :lol:

Edd
Posts: 493
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:25 pm

Re: Striker MK3-ish from Holland

Postby Edd » Fri Dec 08, 2017 9:23 pm

Oops,
Sorry....jusr read the front end was trashed, maybe thats when the engine was changed...or am i doing it again!
Edd

Edd
Posts: 493
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:25 pm

Re: Striker MK3-ish from Holland

Postby Edd » Fri Dec 08, 2017 9:25 pm

....although why it would change from being a pinto to a kent powered Striker doesn't make sense!

HighOnThunder
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue Dec 05, 2017 11:06 am
Name: James

Re: Striker MK3-ish from Holland

Postby HighOnThunder » Sat Dec 09, 2017 12:46 am

So what I gather from Paul's story is that this one factory built MK3 started life with a 1300 X-Flow, and later they put in a 2.0 Pinto and sold it.
My Striker arrived in Holland with a 1600 X-Flow, and later it got two 4AGE's (but I don't think the crash was the reason for swapping the engine). You are right, that if they are the same car, there's a gap from 2.0 pinto to 1600 X-Flow, that's why I don't claim with certainty that I have the works MK3.

All the evidence I have so far is a previous owner's statement that it was factory built and the fact that it has always been yellow. Maybe someone still knows the chassis code for the MK3 Paul mentioned and then I will know for sure if it's a match.
But to be fair, that factory MK3 had two engines in a couple of years time, and my car had three engines in 15 years time, so it is perfectly plausible that the 2.0 Pinto they put in before selling it, was later (between 1990 and 1998?) swapped for a 1600 X-Flow for one of the many reasons that people swap engines.

While I'm speculating, 1988 is a long time ago, I probably wouldn't remember if I put in a 2.0 Pinto or a 1600 X-Flow if I worked on hundreds of cars. Further speculation about memory loss, it's also possible more than one MK3 was built by the factory? I see Paul hasn't posted since 2010 and hasn't logged in since April 2017, so I fear he won't be reading this thread any time soon to comment.

But in the end it doesn't really matter. I just thought it was a funny coincidence that this forum mentioned (in a post from 21 September 2010) a yellow works MK3 and that the guy that imported my Striker to Holland claimed (in a sales advert from 5 September 2005) it is a yellow works MK3.

Edd
Posts: 493
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:25 pm

Re: Striker MK3-ish from Holland

Postby Edd » Sat Dec 09, 2017 11:55 am

There was definitely more than one Mk3 built, I think I went to Le mans with one in 2001, but would have to dig out prints to check, that had a Pinto but was Blue.
Edd.

HighOnThunder
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue Dec 05, 2017 11:06 am
Name: James

Re: Striker MK3-ish from Holland

Postby HighOnThunder » Sat Dec 09, 2017 12:54 pm

Edd wrote:There was definitely more than one Mk3 built, I think I went to Le mans with one in 2001, but would have to dig out prints to check, that had a Pinto but was Blue.
Edd.


When you say 'built', do you mean 'assembled by the factory' or 'kits sold'? Because:

Dave Spencer wrote:As Jim has mentioned the MK3 striker was produced from 1988 - 1990, with about 60 kits sold. The MK3 was supposed to be a budget version of the MK2, but with the MK2 selling so well it was decided to stop production of the MK3. The Mk3 had chevette front end and ford rear. We are led to believe that most of the kits went into the motorsport world.

At present there does not seem to be many around, maybe 4 or 5 on the road!

Jim and I have steadily updated our version and the car is still very competitive today.

If anyone is interested there is a very good spec MK3 for sale on Pistonheads.

Regards,

David Spencer.

Edd
Posts: 493
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:25 pm

Re: Striker MK3-ish from Holland

Postby Edd » Sat Dec 09, 2017 6:01 pm

built..by anyone!


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