2009 4T Stella - CONFIRMED !
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:21 pm
Something interesting happened to me last night.
I got a call from Philip McCaleb. We talked for a while during his visit to Scooterville's Cabin Fever Rally last January (he had been to my home town of Pamplona, Spain, in his youth so we had a good chat and exchanged cards). Anyway, he called because he wanted to pick my brain for the next generation posters for the Pamplona. See if I had some suggestions for a photo shoot or places where he could get some good quality photographs of historical areas in Pamplona, running of the bulls and such.
After we talked about the old times for a while and gave him my suggestions, I thought I would mention to him about the latest gossip going on with the 4T Stella or an auto Stella and such and asked him if he would be willing to shed some light. Well, he actually DID. He said the rumor mill is going 100mph and there is a truth to it. So we talked for like 20 minutes and this is the scoop.
There WILL be a 4 stroke automatic Stella in 2009. But it won't be called the Stella so as to not alienate the die-hards out there. The original name was going to be Audrey, but Audrey Hepburn's estate had some issues with it so it will be called Maria. The engine will be an automatic 250cc. It will have the same Stella metal body, but 12" tubeless tires, Stebel horn, halogen light and a Turbo Encabulator from Rockwell Automation (you can see a crude video if the original development for the cars in the 70's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVZ8Ko-nss4). Because of everyone's need for additional storage, there will be no full spare tire. Instead, that area will have a glove box with a (deflated and folded) inflatable spare. Picking up the idea from small European spare tire designs, it will be small enough that if you get a flat you will be able to unfold it and inflate it with your own lungs, attach it with a simple Velcro patch and you will be able to reach speeds up to 25mph. Enough to get you to a shop to get the flat fixed. It is recommended that you have a hearty breakfast before you leave in your Maria in case you need to use those lungs.
The colors will be the same, Avocado, Tangerine, etc of the current 2008 Stella, but they will add Mango, Watermelon and Papaya With a Hint of Citrus. They were also planning on Grape, but the color was too similar to the one used by the goofy guy on the Grape costume for Fruit of the Loom ads, so instead of Grape they will go with Purple Passion Fruit, that one will be called the PuPaF, not to be confused with Boohbah (http://pbskids.org/boohbah/boohbah.html)
They have also learned that there seems to be an almost immediate demand for performance parts on new models. Thus, they are already working with NCY to have performance parts available the moment the Maria goes on sale. Some of the obvious are the racks, baskets, chrome pieces, and other decorative bits. Additionally they will have a triple dinglinagazing pipe that promises 10hp more. Also a demagnitizing magneto floating caliper rear dual disk brake and a formaldehide front split reacting fork suspension for those that want to have a more stuporous ride. And last but not least, they will also have a sidecar available with the POMP quick release feature. POMP stands for Pissed me Off Mucho, Partner. The way it works, if your sidecar riding companion gives you too much grief on the twisties, you can just push the POMP button and the side car releases, deploying a couple training wheels and a tiny steering wheel so your Partner can steer him/herself to safety while you enjoy the twisties in total freedom. The POMP feature also incorporates a GPS locator and a First Aid Kit in case you do this on a mountain pass and your, unlucky partner, ends up going off the cliff somewhere.
All in all it sounds like a great bike and they will apply a lot of the things they have heard of and read on this forum. MSRP is still undecided as they are still negotiating pricing on the encabulator.
Cheers, and have a great Dia de los Inocentes !
I got a call from Philip McCaleb. We talked for a while during his visit to Scooterville's Cabin Fever Rally last January (he had been to my home town of Pamplona, Spain, in his youth so we had a good chat and exchanged cards). Anyway, he called because he wanted to pick my brain for the next generation posters for the Pamplona. See if I had some suggestions for a photo shoot or places where he could get some good quality photographs of historical areas in Pamplona, running of the bulls and such.
After we talked about the old times for a while and gave him my suggestions, I thought I would mention to him about the latest gossip going on with the 4T Stella or an auto Stella and such and asked him if he would be willing to shed some light. Well, he actually DID. He said the rumor mill is going 100mph and there is a truth to it. So we talked for like 20 minutes and this is the scoop.
There WILL be a 4 stroke automatic Stella in 2009. But it won't be called the Stella so as to not alienate the die-hards out there. The original name was going to be Audrey, but Audrey Hepburn's estate had some issues with it so it will be called Maria. The engine will be an automatic 250cc. It will have the same Stella metal body, but 12" tubeless tires, Stebel horn, halogen light and a Turbo Encabulator from Rockwell Automation (you can see a crude video if the original development for the cars in the 70's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVZ8Ko-nss4). Because of everyone's need for additional storage, there will be no full spare tire. Instead, that area will have a glove box with a (deflated and folded) inflatable spare. Picking up the idea from small European spare tire designs, it will be small enough that if you get a flat you will be able to unfold it and inflate it with your own lungs, attach it with a simple Velcro patch and you will be able to reach speeds up to 25mph. Enough to get you to a shop to get the flat fixed. It is recommended that you have a hearty breakfast before you leave in your Maria in case you need to use those lungs.
The colors will be the same, Avocado, Tangerine, etc of the current 2008 Stella, but they will add Mango, Watermelon and Papaya With a Hint of Citrus. They were also planning on Grape, but the color was too similar to the one used by the goofy guy on the Grape costume for Fruit of the Loom ads, so instead of Grape they will go with Purple Passion Fruit, that one will be called the PuPaF, not to be confused with Boohbah (http://pbskids.org/boohbah/boohbah.html)
They have also learned that there seems to be an almost immediate demand for performance parts on new models. Thus, they are already working with NCY to have performance parts available the moment the Maria goes on sale. Some of the obvious are the racks, baskets, chrome pieces, and other decorative bits. Additionally they will have a triple dinglinagazing pipe that promises 10hp more. Also a demagnitizing magneto floating caliper rear dual disk brake and a formaldehide front split reacting fork suspension for those that want to have a more stuporous ride. And last but not least, they will also have a sidecar available with the POMP quick release feature. POMP stands for Pissed me Off Mucho, Partner. The way it works, if your sidecar riding companion gives you too much grief on the twisties, you can just push the POMP button and the side car releases, deploying a couple training wheels and a tiny steering wheel so your Partner can steer him/herself to safety while you enjoy the twisties in total freedom. The POMP feature also incorporates a GPS locator and a First Aid Kit in case you do this on a mountain pass and your, unlucky partner, ends up going off the cliff somewhere.
All in all it sounds like a great bike and they will apply a lot of the things they have heard of and read on this forum. MSRP is still undecided as they are still negotiating pricing on the encabulator.
Cheers, and have a great Dia de los Inocentes !
