Luke brought both of his autocycles to the 2001 National Pulse Rally at Owosso, MI
Litestar #004....White............Owosso Pulse #106.....Blue
Luke brought both of his autocycles to the 2001 National Pulse Rally at Owosso, MI
Litestar #004....White............Owosso Pulse #106.....Blue
Luke Chaplin did not get a title when he bought Scranton Litestar #4. He only got a Certificate of Origin. For those unfamiliar with these, they are like a "birth certificate" issued by the car manufacturer and usually turned in by the dealer to the state to obtain a title.
They show the factory serial numbers and the "Model Year" for the vehicle, along with the "release date" from the factory, company name, official signatures, etc.
Litestar #004 is:
1LSECGBES000102, dated 11/13/83 as a 1984 model.
The original invoice for the vehicle lists it as "PREPRODUCTION".
Nancy L. Teel signed the document on behalf of Tomorrow Corp. located at 45 Progress Parkway Maryland Heights, MO.
The Litestar has a Honda 450 "Hondamatic" which is a two speed manually shift transmission with torque converter.
There is an AM-FM cassette radio. The headlight low beams are wired to a toggle switch under the dash so that they can be on or off, but the high beams are seperate and always on when engine runnning. It can be left parked with the engine running and lights out. There is also a toggle switch that bypasses the accessory position of the ignition switch.
The front tire is a 145SR13 and the rear is a 145SR15 (try to find it!) on Dodge wheels. The brake calipers are the "aircraft" style used on some of the other "Scranton" Litestars.
The small outriggers are used with the five inch tires.
Since you cannot put it in gear to park with the Hondamatic, it is equipped with a drag racing hold-off valve on the front brake line to "park". This feature is specifically forbidden by Maryland Motor Vehicle Laws which says that there must be an independant parking brake (a modification that the Pulse will need).
The windshield and canopy are plexiglass (lexan?), and the rear "tailcone" seems to have some slight differences from the production version. There is no windshield wiper.
The canopy slides are electronic rack slides, and there is a hand operated piece of metal with hand filed teeth which comes up and presses against the bottom of the canopy to keep it from sliding (virtually useless).
There is no lock on the vehicle other than the ignition.
The vehicle is white gelcoat, no paint. Steering is a very fast 1/2 turn lock to lock, a mere quarter turn in each direction.
This vehicle was originally sold to Coates Litestar in Corydon, Iowa. Mike Coates came to my area with the vehicle and traded it to a local auto detailing shop in exchange for some detail work. I found out about it and purchased it with the trailer that they built for hauling it around to shows. When I got it, it still had the dealers ads painted on it, which is how I traced it.
Below, Carl Coates - Litestar of Iowa
Your Host, Steve Schmidt
Last Update: 11-20-20......
This is a personal
website and is not affiliated with the designer, manufacturer or any company officials/employees.
Disclaimer:
Litestar Pulse Website is provided to you free of charge, "as is."
The best efforts to maintain accurate Litestar Pulse
Website history, information, repair tips and content, however, it is
not responsible for the content of its information, opinion providers.
You should not assume that Litestar Pulse Website is error-free and
makes no guaranties as to the accuracy, currency, content, or quality
of any such information.
Copyright 2021 © All rights reserved