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Is this really ERA 158??? Help!!!
I got up at 3:00 AM and drove 700 miles round trip to LA and back.....our intention was to pick up ERA 158 and a Jag IRS which my friend had bought on Ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2439415177 When we got to LA we found a shop with about a dozen CSX 2000 and 3000 series cars in various states of repair and a couple of aluminum Daytona coupes under construction.:) We wiped the drool from our chins and went to look at ERA 158. When my friend looked the car over he noticed a few things that did not look right.:( 1. The side vents were fiberglass which was molded into the body, not the usual aluminum. 2. The front shock mount "X-brace" was made of square section tube, and not the round tube that I have seen on other ERA cars. 3. The body appeared to be black gell coat with no visible mould lines. The billet hub carriers and lower control arms on the IRS in the picture had been replaced with stock Jag units.......... The remainder of the frame looked like what ERA builds, but my buddy thought that the fiberglass work around the cockpit looked to be poor quality and very thin in some places. We left the car and IRS there and drove home. What do you guys think, did ERA ever build them like this??? Thanks!! Jon Miller P.S. I miss Bob P. |
Jon... what you found in L.A. was Mike McCluskey's shop.
The listing on eBay is by a Japanese firm that has a business relationship with McCluskey. They have had that bare-bones stored in LA for more than a year. A quick call to Peter at ERA could confirm ownership. |
I would love to hear how this turns out. That whole Japanese thing had me weirded out of what otherwise sounded like a great chance for an ERA without the wait.
Smart move not to take possesion, IMO :( -John |
nothing in that ebay add makes any sense to me.What is that statement about a Contemporary frame all about? chuck
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A bit of a disclaimer may, or may not, be in order here.
Mike McClusky did act as middle man here and he took the position of pleading ignorance. He did give Curt a refund check for the deposit he had sent ($2000). Curt will be calling ERA on Monday, and he had already talked to Bob prior seeing this car. I'm eternally optimistic and give McClusky the benifit of the doubt, Curt and my wife are of the opinion the anyone who has been around Cobras for 30 plus years knows full well what's going on. My only real question here is was that really an ERA car??? Thanks, Jon P.S. Mike said that he did have a Contemporary frame in the shop somewhere. |
I emailed both Seigo and Mike M. about this car a few times. Right off the bat knew something was not right when there were pictures on the eBay listing of all sorts of parts (differential, subframe, sidepipes, wheels, steering wheel, bumpers...etc) and NONE OF THIS STUFF CAME WITH THE CAR! SO WHY PUT ALL THOSE OTHER PICTURES ON THE eBay AD? Was told "Other parts were to another project he already sold". Even though it stated body and frame only, it confused some people. I was told the frame and body were not in a previous accident or repaired. Who knows... I'm not questioning Mr. M, but certainly was looking for more straight information from the real owner... the person who placed the eBay ad.
Did the body/chassis include the original MSO document from ERA, showing it was ERA 158? (This is key) |
Re: Is this really ERA 158??? Help!!!
I'm not saying absolutely whether the car was an ERA or not, but...
>>1. The side vents were fiberglass which was molded into the body, not the usual aluminum. Early cars had fiberglass vents. >>2. The front shock mount "X-brace" was made of square section tube, and not the round tube that I have seen on other ERA cars. We changed to round-tube X around #350. >>3. The body appeared to be black gell coat with no visible mould lines. ??? >>4. The billet hub carriers and lower control arms on the IRS in the picture had been replaced with stock Jag units.......... Our standard Jag suspension uses stock Jag hub carriers. A better question would be "Is the unit in a subframe?" |
Bob is, of course, exaxtly right.
For whats its worth, I built #146 and there were prominent mould lines down the length of the front and rear fenders which required sanding and filling as well as around the rear tail light mouldings. You couldn't miss them if it was an ERA body from the period. As to the rear subframe, my car had the fabricated subframe which I was not prepared for. My understanding at the time was the switch had just been made from the Jag carrier. I may be mistaken on that because I did not order my car from ERA but got one from a "dealer" that had not started to build it yet and he may have ordered it that way. Good luck with your friends build!!! |
round x member cars started around era273.The prtotype was on the chassis jig when I ordered my car,295
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I spoke to someone about this car about a year ago. Didn't actually go look at it though. I can't believe it's still hanging around:confused: I would say from the picture that it appears to be in some form of final primer or flat paint. Then again it's really hard to tell from a picture. The body looks like an ERA!!! Would someone try to duplicate an ERA body or would it be possible to do such a good job? I'm doing the body on my car right now & I could give you a couple things to look at. The gel coat doesn't extend into the inner wheel wells(at least mine doesn't) Also dash is rounded on top but needs to be sanded round on the bottom of the lip.
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