Car owners seldom build component cars by themselves though they are all experts in the field of automobiles. But one stood out above the rest.
Four years ago, David Aliberti bought a Sterling two-seater component car with quality . He became so obsessed with the car and now owns the Sterling Sports Cars, LLC that supplies the auto parts to build those cars popularized in the 1970s.
As the month of June began, Aliberti, a resident of Verona, officially exhibited the complete Sterling component car that he built by himself at the Carlisle Import-Kit/Replicar Show in Carlisle, Cumberland County. It is the largest of its kind national show.
Aliberti said on the phone between talking to approaching visitors at the show that many companies of component car are on the West Coast so the people were very glad seeing that the company is on this coast.
He has been, for the past years, innovating and supplying parts to current owners of Sterling cars in the United States and other countries such as the Virgin Islands and France from the '70s.
He said he will be shipping a hood to a guy in Australia next week and also has received a number of requests to install "Targa" roofs removable hard tops.
As of the previous season, Mr. Aliberti had found a supplier or manufacturer for every single part of the car and can now provide the complete kit to build the whole original Sterling, making him the only person all over the world to do so.
He has a mini local company that builds the frame, wheels and suspension (chassis). In his Apollo shop, he builds the body. His nationwide located different parts manufacturers supply everything for cars.
The cars are built with the goal of fitting on the original chassis of the Volkswagen Beetle. Nonetheless, these cars can also function using a mid-engine tube chassis. According to the Verona man, the average final cost for the entire package usually ends up being almost $25,000. Aliberti can hook those cars up with a licensed manufacturer for those clients who want their cars built for them. And the total cost depends on what features the client wants.
Rick Milne, the Pesident of the Sterling Club, an organization for owners, said that the quality of these cars is so much better those in the '70s due to the different innovative manufacturing technologies that are used in making them.
There are several companies that supply parts to design other types of component cars. Aliberti discussed that most of them are much more expensive such as the Lamborghini component car that can go into the $100,000 range. Because of Sterling's mono-copied chassis, or one piece body, he explained, the Sterling is less expensive. Moreover, it does not require a lot of separate parts.
The Sterling cars were designed and created in 1971. Originally known as the Nova, it was built in England by Richard Oakes, a sculptor and Phil Sayers, an engineer. Road and Track Magazine in 1972 tagged it the "most beautiful kit car ever made". Moreover, it was the only component car ever to appear on the cover of Car and Driver Magazine.
Aliberti said that something about the shape of the car seems to drive people crazy: low-slung body that is usually painted with a fiery red, flashy blue or bright yellow.
The cars sold in different countries all over the world and were given a different name in each during the 70s and the 80s. According to Milne, when the 90s came, the Sterling lost its popularity but in recent years, still many people show interest on the cars. He added that people are curious about the cars because they are somewhat uncommon.
Milne further said that the Sterling Club at present has 53 members, and this number continues to increase each as months pass by. In the United States, there are nearly 1,000 Sterling cars and 5,000 all over the world.
Aliberti, a design engineer working for Leeds Promotional Products in New Kensington, has been obsessed with cars and their engines since he was 2 year old. He innovated and crreated a 1979 Monte Carlo to help him enter the Carnegie Mellon University's Industrial Design Program.
Aside from his sponsorships for a prototype mid-engine race car, he also hopes to participate in the Vintage Grand Prix in Oakland this summer that attracts about 250,000 audiences to the streets of Pittsburgh city. In this race, he will put the car on track for a testing.
Aliberti also plans this summer to take his car from the 1970s and make it new with the current trends. He will be doing this by bolting an electric motor to the existing transmission. He explained that its eco-friendliness and sporty features are assured because he will make a new body out of soy-based and other alternate composite materials instead of fiber glass resins.
This year at the Carlisle show he was surprised at the number of inquiries there were as regards electric cars and said that next year, he is definitely going to have an electric car.
Electrical engineering consultant, Nigel McQuin, of McQuin Electric Power Consulting, Inc. in North Versailles serves as Aliberti's adviser in the development of a hybrid electric car and an electric car.
He further added that developing an ecosystem-friendly design is the latest trend right now.
