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FOR CROSSFIRE DRIVERS IN THE UK

Shield

The Story of my Ownership of the Two Startechs

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By Mike Darby

Many of you may know that during my time with the Club I have been lucky enough to be able to re-unite the two Startechs that Chrysler UK used in 2004 to promote the Crossfire and both cars have been seen in many editorials with the, now, famous aerial shot.
In October 2011 Steve Walsh, the then Leader of the Club, wrote an article which is on the Club website under Owners’ stories. This is the latest on the journey of these two cars.

Firstly, the Coupé. I decided in March 2015 to sell the car as I was running out of space and with three other cars, I wasn’t driving it enough. Amazingly it was purchased by another Crossfire owner only 3.5 miles away who made his collection up to 3 Crossfires, an SRT and white Coupé already in his garage. So, with a tear in my eye I waved it au revoir.

To my disbelief, exactly 12 months later the guy who bought it called me and asked if I knew anyone who would be interested in buying it as he needed to raise some money. Well what a dilemma! When I owned the car, my son was badly beaten up whilst he was using the car, so it had some memories for our family. After24 hours I decided to make an offer, which was accepted, and the car was duly delivered back to me within the week. The car had done hardly any miles so an MOT was booked, which of course it passed, and then the problem started. Whilst in the process of changing a bulb, seems bizarre, the ECU decided to fail, and the car would not start. 12 months later, and with a lot of bad language and head scratching, a local auto electrician found the problem so all good. NOT! On my way to see a fellow committee member it broken down, so recovery delivered it back home. Again, my local auto electrician came and discovered that the car had very low voltage to the ignition packs, made some changes (I know not what), and it started.

I then started to make plans in the Autumn of 2017 for the 15th Anniversary in October 2018 so the pressure was on to make the car presentable for the show. Repainted bonnet and front bumper, new mats and curing the water leak in the boot all undertaken.
But where was the Roadster? Another twist of fate had happened in May of 2017 when we were at the Chiltern Hills car show. A Crossfire owner, not someone we knew, said he had seen a black roadster with different wheels the same as my SRT. It sounded like the other Startech. So, putting my Sherlock Holmes hat on I set about the mission to find it. I had done a bit of research before but not with a real effort. I remembered seeing on a Forum somewhere about a Crossfire with strange wheels so after many hours trolling through various messages I found a telephone number. Called it and low and behold it was the owner of the Roadster. Amazing! The guy wasn’t sure if he wanted to sell or not, so I left it not expecting to hear anymore. Then, in November 2017 he called me to say it was going to sell it. He told me a price, I made an offer, deal done.

Bear in mind I had only seen the car in photos. But the price seemed OK. The car was duly delivered to me in December, in the dark, so I had no idea what an awful state it was in.

The following morning, I had a look around the car. What a mess. Roof wad green with algae, every body panel had damage, steering wheel looked it had been eaten by mice, seats badly worn and ripped, engine sounded awful, brakes shot, tyres mismatched etc etc. What had I done? So, as you do, I made a list of jobs. And costs! And then left it.

When the summer came, I decided to make a start and the list got longer and longer but I wanted to get the car to the 15th Anniversary in October with the Coupé. It made it with one week to go, albeit some jobs remain.

So that’s it to date.

The list below, with some photos, I hope illustrates what it means to be a Crossfire owner. Dedication, commitment and a desire to show off a unique car to enthusiasts of great car design.

The Startech Coupé
I first bought the coupé in October 2011 during this ownership I carried out the following work:

  1. Full respray
  2. Refurbished wheels
  3. Re-upholstered seats
  4. Full service
  5. Complete set of new brakes, discs, calipers, pads etc
  6. New bespoke mats
  7. All oils and filters changed
  8. New headlights
  9. New body control module
  10. Replaced crank position sensor
  11. Car cover

I then sold the car in for March 2016 but was offered to buy it back in March 2017.

On buying the car back I undertook the following work:

  1. Resprayed bonnet and front bumper
  2. Refurbished wheels
  3. New tyres
  4. New front brake pads
  5. Repairs to rear suspension subframe
  6. Oil and filter changes
  7. Replace lowered road springs
  8. New headlining
  9. New wiper blades
  10. Full service
  11. New steering damper
  12. All new high output bulbs in all light units
  13. Illuminated rear market lamps
  14. New front wheel bearings
  15. Steering wheel security lock
  16. Correct electronic fault

Work still to be carried out includes:

  1. Rust removal and protection on rear subframe – preventative measure
  2. Replace rear trim due to broken body clips
  3. All wheel alignment adjustment
  4. Refurbishment of wheels – in Startech colour
  5. Repair faulty dashboard illumination

 

The Startech Roadster
I had been looking for this car for 3 years as I wanted to bring the two Startech cars back together again for the 15th Anniversary meeting, held in October 2018, of when the Crossfire was first registered in the UK in 2003.

I managed to locate the car in Aylesbury and bought it unseen. The purchase was completed in December 2017. It was in very bad condition.
Consequently, I have carried out the following work, which was almost completed by October 2018.

  1. Complete respray
  2. New hood
  3. Refurbished wheels
  4. New tyres
  5. All wheel alignment adjustment
  6. All new brakes, calipers, pads etc
  7. New front wheel bearings
  8. Fitted rear diffusers
  9. Colour coordinated rear diffusers and front lower grilles in Startech orange
  10. Colour coordinated engine cover, fuse box cover and relay cover in Startech orange
  11. Colour coordinated side strakes in Startech colour
  12. All oils and filters changed
  13. Chrome window surround
  14. Replaced the seats due to damage
  15. New wiper blades
  16. Deep clean of engine and engine compartment
  17. Full service
  18. Replaced crank position sensor
  19. Repaired windscreen
  20. All new high output bulbs in all light units
  21. Illuminated rear market lamps
  22. New bespoke mats
  23. Car cover
  24. Steering wheel security lock

Work still required to be carried out includes:

  1. Full engine tune
  2. Replace timing chain – preventative measure
  3. Replace serpentine belt – preventative measure
  4. Further refurbishment on wheels – in Startech colour
  5. Replace steering damper – preventative measure
  6. Replace steering wheel due to damage
  7. Replace “Startech” illuminated sill covers – existing ones do not illuminate

Roadster

Coupé

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