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An actual Sterling GT. Wow!

R

Rob Sterling

New member
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This was spotted. by a friend in lower Alabama outside of Mobile the day I picked up my Sterling about a month ago.. Looks like a GT by the description you all have given. I am trying to locate the person that owns it.
 
Unofun

Unofun

Member
farfegnubbin said:
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This video is from way back in 2012 but I recently came upon it and just had to share because of how rare it is. Here we have probably the only video I'm aware of of an actual Sterling GT. What's more, it's a complete, running car. How very cool!

As a quick refresher for everybody, the Sterling GT is an actual factory model of the Sterling. Very few were made (I've heard estimates from three to seven.) The true GT's hood, wheel wells, canopy, and engine compartment/rear bumper are a little different than the classic Sterling. Over the years I've seen lots and lots of folks ad "GT" to their Sterling just to kind of...I dunno...highlight the fact that it is a sports car. But the reality is that doing so isn't accurate. The true GT is rare among the rare.

When watching the video, look for the following features:
1) The lower side-scoop looks like it's a little higher on the body than on the Classic Sterling. In actuality, the entire body was raised a little to gain headroom and then the rocker panel below the scoop was made taller to hide that change (and to hide the lowered floor boards, too, which was always a cosmetic oversight.)
2) The upper side scoops are more rectangular and forward-facing than those on the Classic.
3) The front and rear wheel wells are more round/enclosed compared to the Classic Sterling who's wheel wells have that that scalloped "corner of the eye" look to them.
4) The rear of the car is about three inches longer, and if you look closely, you can tell how they did it; the top line of the rear (the line above the name plate) is identical to the Sterling Classic but then it slants down and REARWARD as it approaches the tail lights. (That panel is much more upright in the Classic.) Obviously the tail lights are different than in the Classic and wrap onto the side a little. (Tail lights in the Sebring II do this as well, albeit using tail lights from a different donor, but the Sebring isn't a true model of the Sterling, rather a spin-off.)
5) The rear louvers are one panel longer, and the engine cut-out is much wider and deeper for better access.
6) This one is subtle but the canopy is just a tiny little bit different. The angle of the windshield is about 1-2 degrees less raked and the borders fit really nicely. Look at the gaps; they are almost nonexistent.
7) The hood, headlights, and front turn signals are different than the Classic but are actually pretty much identical to those from the other rare variant called the Sovran. Some styling cues on the Sovran were odd (...I'm looking at you, weird wheel wells!) but the hood and headlights were tasteful and therefore made their way to the GT.
8) Similarly, the GT has the nice wrap-around dash that was introduced in the Sovran.

This is a true GT folks. Your chances of spotting Bigfoot are better.

Are all of the changes good?? Well that's always in the eye of the beholder.

I like the canopy and dash, and I think the headlights and hood are a worthy variation. I'm very neutral on the enclosed wheel wells. They're fine. The butt looks...long. But some people like long butts.
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Unofun

Unofun

Member
note the top lift system is modified chevy starer motors with different arms and attachments just like the sovrans. 3 or 4 seconds to full closed to full open. the long tail easily fits v6 or v8 engine with no body work.
 
F

farfegnubbin

Site Owner
Staff member
Rob Sterling said:
This was spotted. by a friend in lower Alabama outside of Mobile the day I picked up my Sterling about a month ago.. Looks like a GT by the description you all have given. I am trying to locate the person that owns it.
Click to expand...

Very cool! You found one of the rarest Pokemon out here. :) Yes, I don't know how you'd go about it but try to find that owner. There are less than 10 of those on earth.
 
letterman7

letterman7

Honorary Admin
Unofun said:
note the top lift system is modified chevy starer motors with different arms and attachments just like the sovrans. 3 or 4 seconds to full closed to full open. the long tail easily fits v6 or v8 engine with no body work.
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Maybe on yours, Greg. My Sovran has really huge linear actuators for the canopy hinge actuation.
 
B

Brett Proctor

Well-known member
I wonder what the story is for why the sterling brand didn't get the molds to that when the company was sold through the years
 
letterman7

letterman7

Honorary Admin
Brett Proctor said:
I wonder what the story is for why the sterling brand didn't get the molds to that when the company was sold through the years
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It probably did initially. The next 2 owners after Norm and Cecil had developed the Sovran, then the GT. I imagine the Sovran molds were scrapped since so few were made and the upcoming GT parts would have fit (mostly) for existing Sovran cars. The "classic" molds were still around to service those existing owners. When CCC finally closed for good, a company called RedHead Roadsters in Washington State (Oregon maybe?) bought the molds and rights. I'm personally not aware of any cars they produced, but Warren seems to thing there were a couple GT's produced. I'm not so sure. After that, everything went static until Mike McBride picked up the classic molds when he started Solid Sterling in Oregon in the mid 90's. The GT molds are probably still around, somewhere. Fun fact: the current body mold for the classic seems to be the same mold (or at least one of) from CCC all those years ago!
 
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farfegnubbin

Site Owner
Staff member
Yeah…I don’t have any strong feelings on whether or not RedHead Roadsters made any cars. It’s just always been murky as to when/where the GT was made. In one version of the story it was still under the wing of CCC. In another version, the Sovran (and therefore the GT) came after CCC. I’ve always thought it was a little unclear what RedHead Roadsters did during the few years they had the molds. I don’t mean that with a negative connotation, just with curiosity. At some point someone offered a T-top. But nobody really knows when that occurred or under whom. At some point someone was using the Sovran/GT dash molds to make “GT-style” dashes for Sterling owners who wanted to swap them into their own classic Sterlings. Was that RedHead Roadsters? I wish we knew. Eventually the molds made it to Mike McBride, but apparently those molds no longer included the Sovran/GT dash or the original solid canopy…or the T-tops…or any remnants of the Sovran or GT.

As for the GT molds, nobody knows. The only tiny clue that I ever spotted was the picture of the gray, unfinished GT on top of that shipping container which showed the REMNANTS of a mold still in place on the back of that shell. And some borders looked broken or missing. My interpretation of that is that that gray GT was probably the last one made. I really do wonder where the GT molds ended up. And Cimbria molds for that matter (Gen I and Gen II/SS.)

(There is a story that the Cimbria SS molds were sold to Neria Yauchts who produced a few under the name Neria…and then the molds were destroyed.)

The Sebring molds have kind of been accounted for. They were last known to be in a big rig trailer being used for storage behind some business owners house up in New England. We met him once at Carlisle. Nice guy. But even that is going back about 15 or 20 years. By many measures it’s a small miracle that the original Sterling molds still survive.
 
letterman7

letterman7

Honorary Admin
Another GT seems to have surfaced on YouTube. Appears to be somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Ruined, of course:
 
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