Leela Motors

The donor car

In the early 90’s I had an ’85 Alfa Romeo GTV6. Looks aside it had all the things I was looking for in a car: great handling, a sound that R & T called the best they had ever tested, a nice tan leather interior, sunroof, lowered, with a sport exhaust. Complex enough to satisfy my love of mechanical things, it had a rear transaxle, de Dion suspension, in-board disc brakes at the back, all aluminum motor, and it felt right. This is something the Italians know how to do so well. Hats off to the Italians: I think they are the only nation in the world where a government owned company (Alfa) at the time, could produce a 4 door sedan and a GT Veloce with all this running gear at a price that only nominally contributed to the national debt.

Due to the de Dion rear end the track could not be changed. The wheelbase however I set at 93.5 inches. The wheels I thought most suited for both road and track use were 17”x 7.5” from England and 40 series tires.

Laying on it’s side in the back yard carefully placed between the almond and fig tree was a Silver Alfa Milano donor car from which I took parts out as I need them. This gave my (ex)wife the opportunity to appreciate the bottom side of Italian mechanical genius for the better part of a year and a half while doing dishes in the kitchen. Some people don’t know how lucky they are! It also gave Jesse Z. the previous owner of the Milano a chance to unload one of his 3 Alfas that my enthusiasm got him to buy. Everybody wins! I hope this Karma gets spread around…

Building the Leela was a really fun! Whether it was laying out the chassis on the floor of the shop or the hours of sanding to get the buck right, it was all a delightful experience. Seeing a shape emerge and running my hand over the curve to feel if it was fair is a great feeling. Working on it actually made me feel energized. Making something beautiful, something efficient, something pleasing to the eye (so I thought) is it's own reward.

First I sculpted a 1/5 sale model in modelling clay to work out what I wanted. Most of the time I think things out in my head and then when I start to model I know what I want to do, so the process goes quit quickly. The clay model was followed by a 1/4 scale foam model made of 1" thick foam slabs all bolted together with all-thread. These were mounted on a table with a vertical wall on it representing the centerline of the car. So it was only half the car. Measurements from the clay model were transposed to the vertical wall to get the correct height making sure there was enough room to clear the motor. Then the shaping of the foam model began. When this was complete the foam slabs were taken apart and scanned into Surfcam. With the data in Surfcam it could be manipulated in scale and mirror imaged and full sized printouts made of the stations composing the body.

Then the buck was rigged up on twin back bones so it could be lowered onto the chassis with the engine in place to verify clearance of the intake and the tires. Bad fit between the tires and the body is unacceptable. The result I think speaks for itself. When the stringers (see photo) looked fare and clearances were ok, the foam covering was put on, then filled, shaped and finally glassed , shaped, and painted (black coating).

Molds were then taken off the buck and RTM parts made from the molds. This in brief is how the car was made. It is perhaps an old fashioned way to make it, but it was a thoroughly satisfying project and from beginning to end and of course seeing the car on the road is quite a rush!