ERA or Superperformance 427 Thoughts and Observations

[ERA713]

I have driven both and own era 713.a very nice car.

[mrmustang]

I've owned both an SPF and two ERA's, the SPF was a small block and both ERA's were(are) 427 Sideoilers. Depending on what you plan to use the car for (road racer, street cruiser, weekend show car or driver, etc) you could go either way. One vs the other, both have a nice refined ride as both are equipped with IRS, again if you do not plan to race the car, both the jag and Ford based IRS will hold up for many years. Sustained high speeds require horsepower/torque, again you can build a small block to easily attain the HP/torque required, but you may have to up the compression ratio, or perhaps go with a stroker style motor in order to accomplish this while a big block with a 5spd behind it can more than easily accomplish this while being able to run on pump gas. Again, you really cannot go wrong with either the SPF or the ERA. Whether it is worth the wait to have one built exactly to your specs or not is only a question that you can answer. Sounds to me like you have thought this through for quite some time, now take a step back and rethink exactly what you want vs what you need and go from there. I wish you the best with whatever you choose, may it bring your dreams to reality.


Bill S.

[marcocsx3121]

I have no expertise on either the ERA or Superformance, but based on my six years with CSX 3121 ("real" Cobra) I can tell you that sustained speeds much above 100 mph are decidedly unpleasant in these cars. Aside from the total lack of real wind/weather protection, the aerodynamics cause lift at speed, not a good thing. I had hit 135-140 on a couple of occasions, and the front end was getting noticeably lighter at that speed.

I've spent a fair amount of time on the autobahns, and a replica Cobra would not be my first choice for that duty, great American V8 noises or not.