I think a hardtail Strat is a lot more like a Strat than a Tele, although it does lose that "reverby" quality you get from a Strat's tremolo springs.
To me, the really significant difference is the Tele's bridge, especially if it's a vintage-style model - that large thin, bent-steel plate really has a fundamental effect on the tone (it's a lot less noticeable on a modern Tele with a thicker, more rigid bridge plate).
I like hardtails because I simply don't like tremolos, on the whole. Then again, I personally prefer Teles because I find guitars, like Strats, with extended upper horns a bit awkward to play.
If you do want a hardtail, I agree with littleredguitars2 - the Robert Cray Strat is (I think) still being made and certainly quite readily available on eBay. It's a really nice Strat too, with a nice chunky "fat C" neck.