Trying to get in contact with ERA to talk about a RHD 427 build

[Psychopath]

Apologies to the Cobra community as this is my first post...............Is there any way to get in contact with ERA to talk and put a deposit down for a right hand drive (if it is a possibility) ERA 427 from ERA Replicas. I live in the Uk hence why I would like to get built and purchase a RHD version. I understand Superformance have just started to provide a service for purchasing in the UK but I have tried emailing ERA using the email address from their website but have not received any replies so far.

Thank you in advance for any replies. I love this site.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Psychopath

Is there any way to get in contact with ERA to talk and put a deposit down for a right hand drive (if it is a possibility) ERA 427 from ERA Replicas. I live in the Uk hence why I would like to get built and purchase a RHD version.

Uhhh, like this?

[sgianino]

Patrick is at his Hocus Pocus Trickery again!
And he makes Roll bars disappear

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by Psychopath

Apologies to the Cobra community as this is my first post...............Is there any way to get in contact with ERA to talk and put a deposit down for a right hand drive (if it is a possibility) ERA 427 from ERA Replicas. I live in the Uk hence why I would like to get built and purchase a RHD version. I understand Superformance have just started to provide a service for purchasing in the UK but I have tried emailing ERA using the email address from their website but have not received any replies so far.

Thank you in advance for any replies. I love this site.

eracars<at>sbcglobal.net


860-224-0253 (9am to 4pm eastern standard time, US)

Bill S.

[1985 CCX]

Just call, Peter picks up for me 100% of the time

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by sgianino

Patrick is at his Hocus Pocus Trickery again!
And he makes Roll bars disappear

A little PS sleight of hand. But I happen to know the answer to this question as Bob and I discussed it briefly about 15 years ago when I was up there. The short answer is that the foot boxes and the dash area will require modifications. The engine sits a little closer to the passenger side than the driver side, but that's not a huge deal. The mods are not impossible by any means and I would guesstimate that the additional costs would come in at under $10k. But Bob will correct me if I'm wrong.

[xb-60]

Greetings, and welcome to the forum, Mr. Psychopath.
Can't believe I'm saying that

Patrick is correct. I also spoke with Peter Portante regarding a RHD 289 ERA around 10 years ago, and the extra costs Peter was talking about for the changes required for a RHD car were in the order of USD10k

If you call him, probably not a good idea to introduce yourself as "Psychopath"

Cheers,
Glen

[Buzz]

Unique Motorcars built a RHD version of their 427 for the original owner of my Cobra way back in 1988 and they also made modifications to the right side footbox for more room so it's definitely doable I would think by most major manufacturers.
Seems like ERA is still as computer and tech unfriendly communication-wise as ever! Back in the 80's when I was still in Canada and shopping around, Peter (I think it was him) growled at me "We don't take plastic!" when I asked over the phone if I could purchase an info pack/build manual for their car. I had narrowed my choices down to Unique and ERA at that point and even back then ERA seemed to have more business than they cared for which allowed them to run off potential customers.
They build a great replica, but I was quite happy when I ended up with a Unique instead of buying a car from those pricks!

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Buzz

They build a great replica, but I was quite happy when I ended up with a Unique instead of buying a car from those pricks!

You must have done something to piss them off. They treated me like I was the King of Siam... even when I tried to bribe my way to the top of the queue.

[Buzz]

Yes I did. I bothered them over the phone instead of flying down there and plunking down a deposit before bugging them with pesky questions, lol! Had I done that I'm sure I would've gotten the royal treatment as well.

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by Buzz

Yes I did. I bothered them over the phone instead of flying down there and plunking down a deposit before bugging them with pesky questions, lol! Had I done that I'm sure I would've gotten the royal treatment as well.

I "bothered" Peter by phone AND paid a deposit for a place in the queue, but after quite a few months, I couldn't pin him down with a definite price on the extra cost for a RHD car.
I had other challenges as well with importing a "car" into Australia - the body and chassis had to come into Australia not only in separate containers, but separate ships, would you believe . (edit: should add - that was an Aus. import requirement ....not Peter's requirement )
Peter refunded my deposit without hesitation, and I have to say, he was always easy to reach on the phone and friendly to talk to, and I knew I would have ended up with a very nice 289FIA.

Cheers!
Glen

[Buzz]

Originally Posted by xb-60

I "bothered" Peter by phone AND paid a deposit for a place in the queue, but after quite a few months, I couldn't pin him down with a definite price on the extra cost for a RHD car.
I had other challenges as well with importing a "car" into Australia - the body and chassis had to come into Australia not only in separate containers, but separate ships, would you believe .
Peter refunded my deposit without hesitation, and I have to say, he was always easy to reach on the phone and friendly to talk to, and I knew I would have ended up with a very nice 289FIA.

Cheers!
Glen

Well you still ended up with a very nice Cobra, Glen! Almost every ERA customer I've encountered on this site or elsewhere has had nothing but good to say about their experience, except maybe some gripes about the wait time; and they absolutely do make a fantastic Cobra.
My experience was what it was and that phone call instantly knocked them off my list. I ended up by amazing coincidence finding a right hand drive Unique 427 after I left Canada and returned to St. Lucia. All's well that ends well.

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by Buzz

Well you still ended up with a very nice Cobra, Glen! .......I ended up by amazing coincidence finding a right hand drive Unique 427 after I left Canada and returned to St. Lucia. All's well that ends well.

Thanks Buzz. Sometimes when you think back on how things turned out as a result of circumstances beyond your control, it seems that you could not have planned it any better anyway.

Here's cheers to our Cobras!
Glen

[DanEC]

I have a hard time figuring how they can make the pedal assembly work in that ERA narrow passenger side foot box - at least on the 427 models. I guess there should be a little more room on the small block cars.

[xb-60]

Dan,
Most of the extra cost that ERA would charge for a RHD car comes from the requirement to mirror image the tunnel, footwells and engine placement. Quite a bit of work there.

Cheers,
Glen

[DanEC]

But they don’t shift the engine over to the left do they? I don’t see how they could as it would not align with the axis of the differential pinion shaft. At least on the 427 cars I can’t see how they can gain any footwell width by trying to mirror image the left box on an FE car - the engine and header are right there. If it could be made wider on the LHD 427 ERA I would think they would do so as it’s pretty cramped.

But, if they only consider doing this on small block cars, then they can probably gain a couple inches over the big block ones.

[xb-60]

Dan, I see your point. My focus, of course, was on an FIA car.
However.... well over 10 years ago, I was originally talking with Excalibur (Ernie) about purchasing his mighty 427 (ERA154), and I was in contact with Peter about the ERA boys changing the car to RHD which, from memory, would have required significant mods to the tunnel/footwells/engine sideways location.

[Harpoon PV2]

How did AC do it? They made 289, 427, 428, and FIA RHD, plus the latter AC289s! Seems like there would be members on this forum that could get detailed photos of any of the above cars, which would help a lot in any conversion.

[xb-60]

From what I can tell from my own 289 car, the difference between driver's side and passenger's side footwells is not at all obvious (and that's good).
Need to check with a tape measure before realising that there is an actual difference side-to-side....

Cheers!
Glen

[strictlypersonl]

Originally Posted by DanEC

But they don’t shift the engine over to the left do they? I don’t see how they could as it would not align with the axis of the differential pinion shaft.

We purposely offset the normal driveshaft joints to even out the joint wear. Whether the offset is vertical, horizontal or a combination of both, the driveshaft can't tell the difference.
When we do a right-hand-drive car, we center the engine for more driver's foot room, so there is some additional horizontal driveshaft axis offset, but it is well within the joint's capabilities.