Anaximander

PM sent this morning. Just got back from Stalker cars and a two-day fabulous experience watching Scott Minehart, the owner/designer/builder of Stalker cars perform an incredible amount of work in 2 days on my second classic Stalker that would have taken any other shop at least a week and likely a lot more money because they would not have known exactly what to do. Watching Scott work is like a study in work efficiency. He seems to expend very little unnecessary movement in accomplishing a plethora of tasks in what I would suspect is about the shortest period of time for any given work task. He is able to do it all from engine work, welding/maching, electrical wiring, suspension, and safety mods. It was incredible to watch him work, and trust me, I did not make one suggestion throughout the time he was working on my latest classic Stalker or the one that is currently for sale. He just absolutely knows what to do and how to go about accomplishing the tasks in the most efficient manner. Of course, being the manufacturer, one would sort of expect this level of expertise but it is magnificent to watch. BTW, in terms of shop time costs, if you offer to help him, it will cost you at least 50% more money because he would essentially be training you and it slows him way down. I just generally try to smile, interject conversation when appropriate and watch the master perform at his craft. What fun!!! Bob Schilling

http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=12150&stc=1For sale is a 2008 Classic Brunton Stalker with a 3.8L Naturally Aspirated (Fuel Injected) five-speed Sevenesque car in superb condition. The car has 14.8k miles and the engine has approximately 57k miles total on the bullet-proof 3.8 liter GM engine. It has either a 3.42 or a 3.73 limited slip differential rear end that comes from an S-10 (there are no markings on the differential but the LSD was sourced from Stalker) I just purchased my third Stalker and brought it home yesterday with an L32 engine and have to make room for all of my toys. I purchased this Classic Stalker for sale from the original owner/builder who spent 1 year and a lot of work carefully assembling a great functioning car (notice the laced wiring). It even has a functional prop rod for the hood to be able to work around the engine compartment and comes with a custom made marine grade cockpit cover that snaps into place for either solo driving or transport down the road. The builder kept all receipts and carefully documented the entire build with paperwork that stacks up over a half a foot high. Since purchasing it, I took it down to Stalker here in Florida (Scott Meinhart, the Stalker company owner builds great chassis and cars) and had all of the latest safety mods completed on the car. It comes with almost new tires,upgraded GAZ coil/over shocks, new EBC Yellow Stuff racing brake pads front and back and brake fluid flush for the front and rear disc brakes. The rear end was just serviced along with new Mobil 1 oil and filter for the engine. I also have two brand-new spare radiators for the Stalker. It has a 10 gallon gas tank and even a custom concealed glove box. The car weighs approximately 1500 pounds and is putting approximately 205 horsepower to the rear wheels while designed to run on 87 octane fuel. The car has never been abused but I did autocross it one time a couple of months ago with great delight and did not touch a cone on any of the 4 runs. It is an extremely fast and nimble car to drive but makes power such that it is quite controllable. The car is licensed/registered here in Florida as an assembled vehicle replica (ASVE) as that is how it was titled/licensed in Texas where it was built. The builder is a former technical writer and took painstaking care to document virtually every aspect of the build. A detailed visual history of chassis number 94 can be seen here:http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=13089 Please no trade offers as my 4-car garage is now fully stuffed. The builder sold the car at a very reasonable price and so I am simply passing on the savings (at a bit of a loss to expedite a sale) to the next owner after having spent months doing minor sorting out to make it a really fun/all purpose car. Price is FOB North Florida (Tallahassee). Thanks for looking. Spring/Summer is just around the corner! Bobhttp://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=12140&stc=1

Taber, Here in the South as you well know, mud daubers are pretty much ubiquitous in stationary items. They are like little bee-like insects that make nests in the most curious places. We will frequently have mud dauber nests behind our articulating exterior shutters on our home. It just means that the car has sat up for considerable lengths of time. Thanks for scouting out this car for us. It is likely that the real value is as a Hagerty's condition #3 which would place the value at about $17.5k instead of the $22.9k they are asking for it. At $17.5k, I think it would be a fun project for someone. It has such low miles and would just need some TLC to likely bring it up to a #2 vehicle.

Taber - What suggested that "there appears to be evidence of some '70s vintage insect inhabitation under the bonnet"? What would 40 years of "insect inhabitation look like??? Thanks, Bob

Jay, I think because Dennis Brunton was the builder and it was his company at the time, he may have wanted to highlight the sevenesque qualities of his car during the build. You can see all kinds of 7 geegaws on the car. It looks like a blindingly fast car. However, the new M-Spec (Minehart) cars have a significantly upgraded suspensions from the original Stalkers when Scott Minehart bought the company from Dennis Brunton.

Do let us know here. It is a little early in the "season" for our type of cars but hey, if there is a Cyber Monday-Sunday price, you never know? I have never built a car but your build process looked pretty methodical from what my mostly untrained eye could perceive. It looked like you powder-coated the frame early on in the build after fitment of the fiberglass which I think is considered a best practice.

Brit, Beautiful new paint job on your XL. What are your thoughts on how much you are going to ask for that beautiful car and trailer?

Oh boy! I just ordered some slightly used Avon biased slicks with the A11 compound from John Berget Racing Tires and I will be able to autox the Stalker in December near my home. The fun just keeps on getting funner!

I woke up in the middle of the night this morning and found myself reflecting on a 220 mile ride I took in the Classic Stalker yesterday which consisted of mostly country North Florida/South Georgia roads and about 35 miles on I-75. I had at least a half a dozen people want to take a picture of the Stalker. On the Interstate, I had two sets of people that were taking pics while travelling along at 75 mph. Kind of funny but this little car really makes myself and other people smile. After 3 weeks of work and support from the Mineharts and the previous owner/builder Jim Wallace, I currently have the car pretty well sorted for the present time. It does not currently leak a drop of any kind of fluid and ran flawlessly with the N.A. 3.8L engine. Kudos to Jim for building a nice car. I had placed a 3/4" gel pad on the seat with a lumbar roll behind my back and was amazingly comfortable for the entire ride. The weather was beautiful and a light sweatshirt made the trip absolutely delightful. What is really fun is that I am getting more dialed in to the steering inputs and how to precisely guide the car. It is amazing how little input these 7 type cars require to plant them where you want them. What fun!

Thanks Shane. As you very well know, these cars are ADDICTIVE!

A few weeks ago, I travelled from North Florida just 50 miles shy of Dallas, TX to pick up Jim Wallace's 2007 Classic Brunton Stalker. The car came equipped with a naturally aspirated 3.8L GM engine from a 1998 Olds 88 with 44k miles. The Stalker now has 14k miles so the engine is pretty fresh with only 58k total miles. During this past week, I had taken the Stalker down to their headquarters in Clearwater, FL and had Scott Minehart, the owner do a bunch of upgrade mods and he was also kind enough to replace a worn front differential seal that was weeping. I got the car back home a couple of days ago after having spent a marathon day/night taking the Stalker down, having Scott work on it for about 9 hours and then trailered it back home. This morning, I changed the oil and put in Mobil 1 synthetic with a Mobile 1 oil filter and then took it out for about an 80 mile test hop along quiet country roads in North Florida/South Georgia. The car acts as if it is on rails and the steering is very responsive. In a desolate area, I was using the broken yellow lane stripes as if they were cones on a slalom to get a better feel for how the steering works at certain speeds. I had previously owned the original prototype M-Spec Stalker with an LS1 engine that had much more power and better suspension but did not fully appreciate at the time what I really had. Fast forward 2 years later and I am in an older style but more "Sevenish" Classic Stalker that rides more like its minimalist brethren (Lotus, Birkin, Caterham, etc.) and am having a ball. Certainly not as plush or powerful as the LS1-LS3 M-Spec Stalkers. I plan to rejoin the local SCCA Solo Chapter and autocross the Stalker to improve my driving skills. Being that it is a street legal car, it will provide me with ample opportunities to get a good feel for the car's performance before I track it and during the non-track operational times which are much greater than the few minutes spent on an x-cross track each Sunday. As many of you know and I realized, it is hard to be without a 7 type car! Bob

Jay, First of all, I want to say big time congrats on joining the whacky band of 7 lovers! Secondly, I would like to second your appreciation for the forum members and especially Croc and his weekly postings of sevens for sale. A couple of years ago, I dipped my toe into the seven waters and bought the prototype M-Spec Stalker that Scott Minehart had developed. At the time, I was still working and planned to autocross the car and drive it around our deserted North Florida/South Georgia roads. However, I sold it fairly quickly as the preparation for x-cross was more than I was willing to deal with at the time. Fast forward about a year and half after I sold the M-Spec and was casually returning to the site when my interest of 5 months ago for a particular Brunton Stalker was re-ignited. After extensive conversations with the wonderful fellow that built the car back in 2007/2008 about 5 months ago and then as recently as yesterday, I pulled the trigger on the classic Brunton Stalker in Texas. This website is absolutely "infectious" when it comes to 7's of all kinds and I found that I was missing the true enjoyment of the marque and/or its close facsimile in the Classic Stalker. About 50 years ago when I was in high school in Southern California, I almost pulled the trigger on a 1962 Lotus Super Seven but my father's admonishment that I would be run over on LA freeways dissuaded me from getting the car and I ended up with a Triumph TR4. My M-Spec Stalker was a more modern variant of the 7 marque but not as traditional as the one I am getting this weekend. Again, congrats Jay on your new ride and thanks again to the forum members and especially Croc in keeping our interest so high for the marque. Bob

Mario, When I heard the concept from Glen and then Scott, I mentioned to them at the SCCA Tour that I thought they had a winner concept. Owing to the fact that Miata donor cars are much less expensive than the supercharged six or eight cylinder Stalkers, this should be quite appealing to many builders. Scott has a knack for designing suspensions that work well and if you couple a lightweight frame with common Miata parts, it should be both fast and handle well for a relatively low investment cost. Bob

PM Sent.

Toedrag, These latest pictures constitute outrageous Seven porn. Watch out for men in dark suits coming to your front door. The quality of your build and the special features you are incorporating are simply over the top. It made my M-Spec prototype look like a tractor compared to your build. Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration but gee whiz, what a work of art and function rolled into one very potent package. Keep up the great work! Bob

One of the things that I have given a lot of thought to is that the Superlight comes with carbon fiber bucket seats with very little padding. This is not a car that was particularly built for comfort but for speed and laser like handling. Given what Kitcat said about the suspension and I have heard from others, it is not designed to provide a gentle ride like a Miata.

Duncan, Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. Keep those beautifully detailed pictures coming and the car will be sold in short order. I am trying to ease more into retirement and am having a harder time justifying these exquisite toys. Not ever having been tracked/raced or even in the rain certainly shows in some of the undercarriage shots. I can feel the adrenaline building in our seven lovers' veins. AstroBob

Duncan, Great start!!! Now you need to take a bunch of pictures of the other aspects of your car that are not shown in the few pics you have. Does the car have a rear end??? I have yet to see what it looks like? How about a pic or two showing the suspension and underside of the car. As Croc had so aptly mentioned in a post a short time ago, the more pictures you have of the car and the more elaborate story is what sells these unique cars. There is definitely someone on this site that is going to want your car. Would suggest changing some of the fleabay wording to make it sound less like an auction and more a collegial offering from a seven lover. AstroBob

Croc, Thanks for the sage advice. I passed it along to the 2007 Caterham owner. I suspect we will see it for sale shortly on USA7's. Bob

Croc, I don't envy you have to deal with contractors. I have experienced my share of pain with a little joy thrown in over the years while getting houses/garages built. It is kind of interesting about a fellow who owns a 2007 Caterham in PA and continues to list it on flea bay and keeps bumping up against a wall just shy for $35K. He originally set a BIN price of $47K and has only come down to a BIN of $43K. It appears that the market has told him after I think it was three 10 day auctions that the car is not going to go for his asking price. It seems like things in the unique auto trade are like many other discretionary items right now and moving somewhat slowly. It feels like the US economy has not rebounded in a robust way and that of course tends to bring values down for a whole host of goods. As we have all seen, everything goes in cycles. However, I do find that the State licensing requirements that are being tightened portend a scary trend that may hurt enthusiasts? Bob

Have they stopped selling used 7's????? I go on vacation for a few days and come back to no posting by Croc on the available 7's for sale:willy_nilly: It gives me the feeling I might have if the Sun did not rise in the East tomorrow morning. I hope Croc isn't out racing and forgot about us voyeurs.

Shane, We can certainly acknowledge the damaged and broken parts. I think the sanity issue was in question long before now:willy_nilly:

Shane, This song reminded me more of you. One of my favorites. Bwaaaaahaaaaahaaaaa AstroBob

Shane, Have you gotten past the insurance company so the story can be told? Curiosity is getting the better of me. BTW, how are you feeling and is work sort of getting into a rhythm? I suspect that they have you in a back brace to keep everything stable and healing. If it is too soon to tell the story, just suggest I take a leap at the Moon for the time being. Bob

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