"Leela 250" - Alfa-inspired roadster kit (56k beware)

1550 lbs, Alfa Milano/GTV6 running gear with custom tube frame and composite body...

DO WANT!!!

I first found out about this car from a photo on Autoblog from Monterey last year, where nobody seemed to know anything about it...it seems to still be running around. There is a heavily dated corporate site, and a blog post from 2009 with more modern pictures.

http://www.leelamotors.com/ http://www.leelamotors.com/blog/?m=200903

I tried to e-mail the company for more info, but it just got bounced back. I think this thing is HOT; maybe they ran in to trouble when Alfa announced their return to the U.S? Has anyone else ever seen or heard of this car?

Sexy = yes, rollover protection = no.

It's a sexy car with no roof and no rollbar. The seat sticking up above the rest of the car looks really odd.

I'd still love to cane it around the track, though. That Alfa V6 would sound divine.

yeah, I would put in a shorter vintage seat, or weld in an aluminum seat with minimal padding. I am sure that no sanctioning body would allow it on track, but I would love to beat it up for a few days. Pretty, sounds pretty.

Somebody submit that for the factory five contest.

Very nice.

I think on that car I would add a double hoop rollbar, then make the rear cowlings that come up to and over the hoops, add low back vintage seats with the head rest pads on the front of the rollbar cowlings and call it a day.

I think that would actually improve the look and safety. and +1 million on how sexy that looks and how fantastic the GTV engine uncorked would sound in it!!

Chris Rummel

Looks like they added a cage for last year's showing...I agree with everybody, the seating looks pretty odd, but could easily be solved with bigger cowlings and an integrated hoop.

The seating isn't any odder than any older style car like a Cobra for instance.

What in the world were they thinking, with that seat?!

http://www.leelamotors.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/imga0031.JPG

I wouldn't hate the style of the seat, if it sat about a foot lower in the car! The car is low and sexy but it has the seating position of a minivan!

i say, put in a retro seat and delete the wing. Then i would drive the snot outta it!

I finally joined GMS so can aswer any questions you have. Thanks for all your comments, and I have to agree the seats look weird. Honestly I hadn't even thought about that yet. The drivers seat is a Momo racing seat the bottom of which is about 3/4 of an inch above the floor of the car. Originally I had two hoops for the roll bar but they were too difficult to mount, the flywheel being in the way, so I made this one for a track event. It's got SCCA legal mounting plates, .125 wall, etc. not pretty but functional.

The car is a lot of fun to drive on the track and the street which was my original intent. It's 1725 lbs. , 50/50 within 8 lbs. with me sitting in the car; and with the stock motor I can do pretty well against Caymans on the track. A hopped up Alfa V6 2.5 engine is almost ready plus a new set of brakes should make it a blast to drive not to mention the profound satisfaction of leaving some pretty fast Porsches behind!

The web site is in the process of being updated and pricing revised. I do plan to manufacture the car as a purpose built car to customers specs. Both road and track versions will be available. Feel free to email me with questions, comments, suggestions, etc. Regards, Robin

The website gives me a 404 (site not found) error.

http://www.leelamotors.com/

I missed this thread the first time around. I'm glad it got bumped. What's the cost?

The web designer is making a few changes to the site right now. It should be up soon, ie. an hour or so, hopefully.

re cost: Are you looking for a road car, road and track car, or race car. Basically you layout what you want and I'll price it accordingly. For a track car it would be a shame to have all the nice cnc trim pieces since they might get trashed. -save some $$ there and put it into the engine and trans. etc.

The site is working. Click on http://www.leelamotors.com If there is an 's' after http, (https) it doesn't work. RB

Do you sell the bodies only?

No.

Robin_Admin wrote: No.

Too bad- the body looks nice, but the pictures of the frame says "Locost" all over it. it would be nice to have the body and make a frame for it. Oh, well.

And here I was expecting some sort of cyclops car.

Nice looking anyway.

Erik Rathmann of Rathmann Autoworks in Poway has restored many Lamborghini's and Ferrari's and is of the opinion that the frame is stronger than those (vintage) cars. It is not a large diameter simple ladder style frame like a lot of Cobra replicas. Rather it is a complex structure of 108 tubes (which I have done in solidworks and will post on the site shortly) and weighs app. 120 lbs. not including body mounting members. The frame is in keeping with the overall intent of the car which is to accomplish the end of high performance by keeping everything light, sophisticated and refined, rather than big and simple. Just my thinking... About the car- I was invited to show the car at Pasadena College of Art last year. The students were given 3 trophies to award to their favorite cars. The three cars chosen were a Ferrari Enzo, a Maserati MC12, and the Leela Spyder. I'm always open to how to improve the car so I will listen to whatever suggestions you have to make it better. I'm thinking about a GT version too.

The design is beautiful; if you keep the cost competitive and scalable to consumer needs you should be able to sell. Lee Noble might be your biggest competitor, though, if I remember the projected cost correctly...not to mention the FFR 818 which may come in significantly cheaper for similar performance numbers.

SlickDizzy wrote: not to mention the FFR 818 which may come in significantly cheaper for similar performance numbers.

Alfa V6 > *

The FFR 818 is quite a feat price-wise. I;m sure it will sell well at that price. The price of the Leela will be more like the Noble/Rossion given the work to build the car and the complexity of packaging the engine, transaxle, and suspension.

If pure numbers are what you are after, there is not much difference in price between a 2.5 making 200+ or 3.0 motor making 300 hp. With a supercharger or a 4cam 4 valve engine plenty more can be had. What is also important is the ability to drive on a mountain road and have fun without endangering yourself too much. I can tell you from experience here on the back roads of San Diego Co. that even with the stock engine it eats up straights in a hurry. A 300 hp engine in the Leela would be like a 600 hp Porsche or Corvette. If you can use that properly it's easy to make. I'm working up to that. Eventually I have in mind a motor that will outrun a ZO6 in a staight line; ie. 0-60 in the 3 second range. With the new motor it will be about 4.5 sec's to 60, get 30+ mpg cruising and top out at about 160 mph and the sound is awesome!

Robin_Admin wrote: Erik Rathmann of Rathmann Autoworks in Poway has restored many Lamborghini's and Ferrari's and is of the opinion that the frame is stronger than those (vintage) cars. It is not a large diameter simple ladder style frame like a lot of Cobra replicas. Rather it is a complex structure of 108 tubes (which I have done in solidworks and will post on the site shortly) and weighs app. 120 lbs. not including body mounting members. The frame is in keeping with the overall intent of the car which is to accomplish the end of high performance by keeping everything light, sophisticated and refined, rather than big and simple. Just my thinking... About the car- I was invited to show the car at Pasadena College of Art last year. The students were given 3 trophies to award to their favorite cars. The three cars chosen were a Ferrari Enzo, a Maserati MC12, and the Leela Spyder. I'm always open to how to improve the car so I will listen to whatever suggestions you have to make it better. I'm thinking about a GT version too.

Like I said, it screams Locost frame. And since most of the labor in making the car is the frame, I'm sure there are more than a handful of potential customers would be willing to make their own. Which then opens the possibilities of powertrains. For instance, a 4cyl from a Spider.

I know you put a lot of time into the frame, but a 20 min search on locost frames shows exactly the same thing. Including a lot of long thread discussions of the FEA of various frame designs.