Era 2080

[mrmustang]

Welcome the latest addition to our garage. ERA 2080,originally built in 2002 by our own Robert "Grumpy" McLinden (RIP). Painted in a 2002 Subaru white pearl with what appears to be a Root beer metallic stripe, almost all ERA options, top, heater, wipers, including comp rear, except Wilton wool carpet. A good friend (Tom L.) in the northwest had made plans to purchase the car, but had to sell his existing cobra first, unfortunately, the buyer of his car passed away a few days before the deal could be consummated. With Ron the seller of the FIA, here in SC was moving to Arizona, and had a short time to either make arrangements to ship the car, or sell it to someone else. Tom reached out to me, told me what had happened,and to see if I knew anyone who might be looking. I then reached out to Ron (who I had spoken with last August or September before I bought my SPF 289 roadster) and offered myself as an emergency out if he could not find another buyer (he had quite a bit of interest in a short time, with one post on facebook). Fast forward to this past Thursday afternoon, when I surprisingly receive a PM asking "when would you like to pick up the car". With the movers coming at 10am this past Saturday, I showed up at 7:15am as his short and long distance potential buyers could not make the deal happen in his timeline.The whole ride down I kept thinking that I was out of my mind, was really was not looking to purchase anything automotive related, as my garage space was almost at a premium, the other side of my brain (with coffee now waking it up) was thinking, it's only 2.5 hours from the house, it's too good to pass up. Sight unseen, and fully committed already, I was further thinking it was a project car needing work, and I could use a non honey-do project to work on this spring. Once I arrived, a brief review of the car, dusty, a little dirty, could not even tell the car was white pearl,at this point, I thought it was just Wimbledon White. Even after stopping for gas on the way back (directly across the street from the only SPF dealer in SC, go figure), I still was second guessing my purchase. Truth be told now, after a really good cleaning, inside and out, I find the car to be well kept by it's two previous owners, and is in fairly good shape given it's 20 years old. A few paint chips here and there, a section of the upper passenger seat material cracked, nothing serious so far. Three days in, and it has yet to mark it's spot in the garage. Fires right up, and after a few minutes of warm up (no choke), idles quite nicely. Plate and insurance now on the car, only had a few minutes for a brief 3 mile ride to the gas station yesterday. Tight as any of my other ERA's, even after all these years. Will most likely pull the wheels and start my usual (anal) tech inspection later this week, fix anything I may find, then take it out for a longer ride.

SWMBO has already made the comment of "his and hers" Cobra replicas, I wonder which one will be her first to actually drive .

Bill S.

[Sargie]

Congratulations Bill! Beautiful car. Hope you really enjoy it!
Rich

[1795]

Looks nice Bill. Should be a fun car.

Jim

[DanEC]

Very nice car. Enjoy it.

[Alfa02]

Glad you ended up with it Bill, if I couldn't. I did my darnest to make it work, but as you said, with my buyer passing away, it is what it is. Grumpy's ERA was one I really wanted as it was so well optioned, as Peter said (ERA) they couldn't build another like it, because of some parts are not being available anymore (Spare 4.5"Trigo wheel) you will never see another one. The paint scheme was another factor I liked, and the story behind it, I wish you the best My Friend, Cheers Tom.

[1985 CCX]

Bill

Great stuff, you going to Indy this June?

[twobjshelbys]

Sweet

[patrickt]

Excellent -- just in time for spring too.

[cycleguy55]

Nice car. Congratulations!

[spdbrake]

Congratz Bill. Great find.
The lift is up and running if you need to use it.

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by Alfa02

The paint scheme was another factor I liked, and the story behind it.

Never heard the story behind the paint, care to enlighten us?


Bill S.

[KarlzEE Bebout]

BTW Bill. The original owner's name was Robert. He came by the "Grumpy" handle honestly. He woulda griped about a wet dream!
That being said, I enjoyed being around him and found him to actually be a good guy.

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by KarlzEE Bebout

BTW Bill. The original owner's name was Robert. He came by the "Grumpy" handle honestly. He woulda griped about a wet dream!
That being said, I enjoyed being around him and found him to actually be a good guy.

Brain infarction repaired, thanks, I knew, but somehow it did not get typed out that way. I had conversed with Bob a few times when he was first getting his Kirkham, nice guy.....Hopefully he is looking down from above and smiling at the fact his FIA is still up and running well.

Bill S.

[Tom Wells]

Talk about something I thoroughly forgot - as in vanished from memory - wow!

I helped Bob install that engine in that car when he lived in Maryland.

Tom

[Buzz]

Nice looking car! That stripe actually works well with the 289 nose.

[Mach 1 Fan]

Looks great Bill, I hope to see it at the SAAC meeting in Hickory in three weeks.

Michael Briggs
Mach 1 Fan

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by Mach 1 Fan

Looks great Bill, I hope to see it at the SAAC meeting in Hickory in three weeks.

Michael Briggs
Mach 1 Fan

The plan right now is to bring the SPF 289 roadster, or perhaps, if the carb is rebuilt and back to install in time, the 70 Shelby. But you never know.

[Harpoon PV2]

Wow, what a great looking car, will stand out where ever you drive! Cheers, Dennis

[xb-60]

Nice one, Bill.
I've seen other pictures of 2080 .....it's been well looked after, from what I can see.
Hey - it's an ERA 289FIA ....what could be better?

Cheers!
Glen

[Alfa02]

Ok Bill the story goes, either Bob (Grumpy) or his best friends, friend raced a A/Production 289Cobra on the east coast in the late 60's to stand out, the 289 was painted white, and his wife thought the single maroon (Rootbeer?) stripe. Her favorite color (Stripes were all rage then) would finish it off nicely. If I ended up with it, I was going have Steve (Volk) see if he or SAAC could come up with pictures of said Cobra. Steve already knows about ERA2080 as we talked about doing something special with it @ the open house in Sep. I'll give you a ring Bill, we'll talk K? Cheers Tom.