In the 70s, Al Hildenbrand was a Sterling distributor that thought he could improve the car, and in 1980 he released a more “mainstream” looking (to my eyes) version that had a broad set of changes called the “Bremen Sebring”. Most obviously, the roof has been raised a little, and the “door” also extends lower (in later versions — early Sebrings retained the Sterling top). He also shortened the nose and added bumpers, as well as raising the headlights and converting them to pop-ups. Minor stylistic changes were made across the bodywork. Personally I feel that it looses a bit of the over-the-top exotic feel of the original, but it’s still a wilder car than almost anything on the road.
The National Sterling Association estimates that about 1,500 were made in all, but I suspect that number is actually quite a bit lower than that.
James’s Sebring is built around a 2.8L V6 water cooled engine (which includes air conditioning) mated to the 4-speed VW Beetle transmission. He’s located in Oklahoma City, and the first person to bring him $5,000 drives away in the car (he drives it regularly and it runs fine). You can reach him via email at JmsShively@aol.com.
nice looking execution overall. If I had the money this would definately be in the running for a purchase.
I Love To Drive This Car It IS Somuch Fun And Turns Somany Heads This Is A True Attension Getter But The Pric Has Gone Up Due To All The Addons And I Have Lots More Pictures Just To Start A New Dash 10,000.00 If you have anny questions plese contact me at jmsshively@aol.com thanks
James,
The Sebring looks like my old one. I ought it new in Bremen, Indiana. Originally, it was a blue gelcoat color but I had it painted Black and did the striping along the sides. (Original Sebrings had no striping or trim available).
I sold it to an architect in ‘83, He died soon after purchasing it. I got a call from the local BMW dealer who said the architect’s wife was trying to trade it in on a new BMW.
I never saw it again tonight, if this is it.
1980 i and a partner, jim hart approached al hildenbrand of bremen sport to upgrade the sebring to a v-6 engine and he also custom made a creighton , named after dwayne creighton we also offered for sale to new car dealers the mini mark and we were off and running with our own line of cars thanks to al. there came a recession in the early 80’s and it put us out of business as the new car dealers were stopped from buying outside vehicles that their companies didn’t manufacture. we also had in our line a 57 t-bird made by camelot motors a 52 m.g.td made by m.p.lafer and a company out of texas and a porsche speedster made in houston tx. it was a heck of a learning experience and i wish i could contact some of my old friends in the business, we will see what this e-mail brings. bud sawdy