My ERA visit

RAO-3 · #1 (**permalink**) 06-17-2008, 05:33 AM

As some of you know, after being a guest lurker on this board for a bit, I finally decided to start asking questions regarding getting my own car. Over the weekend, I made the trip up to ERA to check out their shop and to put down my deposit on an ERA. It was really great to talk to Peter in person, after having talked to him on the phone. I can tell he will be good to work with as well, as he really knows his product, and after talking a bit, he knew exactly what I was looking for. I'm looking forward to many more visits up there in the future. He figures that I should have my car at about this time next year. Now on to the pics!

I tried to get around to get pics of as many of the cars as possible. I will post some of the shots here and you are welcome to go and check out all the pics I took. Of course I will be going up there again in the future, when they start on my car, so if you want me to take any other pics just let me know.

Here's a shot showing many of the cars ERA is currently working on. I think fkemmerer's car is the one on the lower left.

Peter mentioned that this car would likely be going out to the new owner at the end of this week:

A shot of the outboard rear that is discussed so often

I also loved the look of this car:

Will be getting a similar engine:

And the rest of the pics can be found here:

http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...20June%202008/

For those of you that haven't been to ERA's shop, it was great to see the fine craftsmanship that goes into these cars. You really can see that they spend quite a bit of time to be sure everything is "just right" with each car they build. I told Peter that it's like looking at a fine swiss watch, only in a bigger scale. We are truly lucky to have a company like ERA to provide us with such a fine auto. I am truly happy that I made my choice to go with ERA. Now the waiting begins!

Ray

jagxjr5012 · #2 (**permalink**) 06-17-2008, 06:43 AM

Conratulations !!! You made the right choice with ERA, they do a fine job. Enjoy the building process !!! Update us on what your choices are for color, motor ect !! Thanks

patrickt · #3 (**permalink**) 06-17-2008, 07:01 AM

Your photobucket shots look great. When I was up there a couple of years ago I told Peter "I should pay you to let me come and work here." And I was serious! He looked at me like I was nuts.

Jim Holden · #4 (**permalink**) 06-17-2008, 07:15 AM

Peter would tell you that he "pays" to go and work there everyday, too.

Jim

PS: RAO-3: Did you manage to get up to the R&D shop (a/k/a the Skunk works)?

RAO-3 · #5 (**permalink**) 06-17-2008, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Holden

Peter would tel you that he "pays" to go and work there everyday, too.

Jim

PS: RAO-3: Did you manage to get up to the R&D shop (a/k/a the Skunk works)?

Jim, I got "close" to it, but didn't actually get there...yet. I told Peter that when he gets to my car, I will be making visits to take pics of it as well. Hopefully by then, he'll show me it.

I do think that Peter really does enjoy his job, even though he has to deal with the likes of people like me.

Ray

RAO-3 · #6 (**permalink**) 06-17-2008, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patrickt

Your photobucket shots look great. When I was up there a couple of years ago I told Peter "I should pay you to let me come and work here." And I was serious! He looked at me like I was nuts.

Funny you should say that... I was saying to him that it must be thrill to come to work every day - somehow I think we weren't necessarily talking about the same kind of thrill!

Thanks for the compliments on the pics. Can't wait til I'm posting pics of MY car being built!

Ray

RAO-3 · #7 (**permalink**) 06-17-2008, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jagxjr5012

Conratulations !!! You made the right choice with ERA, they do a fine job. Enjoy the building process !!! Update us on what your choices are for color, motor ect !! Thanks

jagxjr5012, right now my color choice is twilight blue pearl with titanium stripes and engine wise, a 428 w/ dual carbs.

Ray

elric · #8 (**permalink**) 06-17-2008, 11:27 AM

You won't be disappointed. Peter, Doug, Bob and the rest were great to work with.

jagxjr5012 · #9 (**permalink**) 06-17-2008, 04:07 PM

Sounds nice Ray !! Keep us posted !!

Mike

Snakebit · #10 (**permalink**) 06-17-2008, 04:39 PM

You could not have made a better choice! Their product and customer service are second to none. Any questions I had, Peter, Doug, and Bob were great. If I needed additional parts , I had teem at my door the next day. When people look at the car, they can't get over the quality and workmanship of the kit.

Their wireing diagram was great. When it comes to electrical work, I'm at a loss, mechanical, no problem. I followed their electrial wireing diagram and when I hooked up the battery, everything worked! If I can do it, any one can. Good luck with the car, you'll be counting the days.

ZOERA-SC7XX · #11 (**permalink**) 06-17-2008, 04:49 PM

Congrats Ray on your choice of cars. I missed you by a day, I was there on Friday after work.
Not only will you be able to witness in person and photograph much of your car construction (depending on how much time you have), you'll also get to see Peter 'On Stage', as he is a character to be seen and heard.
Once you get to know Doug and Rob, they will let you wander around and show you how they assemble the cars. I wonder if any other shop lets you have the run of the place?
The year will go by fast and before you know it you'll have your car (will it be a 'turn-key'?). Good luck and keep up posted.

RAO-3 · #12 (**permalink**) 06-18-2008, 03:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZOERA-SC7XX

Congrats Ray on your choice of cars. I missed you by a day, I was there on Friday after work.
Not only will you be able to witness in person and photograph much of your car construction (depending on how much time you have), you'll also get to see Peter 'On Stage', as he is a character to be seen and heard.
Once you get to know Doug and Rob, they will let you wander around and show you how they assemble the cars. I wonder if any other shop lets you have the run of the place?
The year will go by fast and before you know it you'll have your car (will it be a 'turn-key'?). Good luck and keep up posted.

Sorry that we missed each other, it would have been good to meet you. I only wish I lived closer to ERA!

Yes, I'm getting a turn-key car. My original plan (before I registered here on the forum) was to do a kit car, but my wife talked me into having them do it, as I really kinda have a full plate as it is.

When they actually start building a car, do they work on it constantly, or do they kind of work on each car in batches? I guess my question has to do with the amount of progress to expect in a given time frame. Just trying to give some thought to the intervals for visiting the shop, given that it's about a 3 hour ride

Ray.

Rickd · #13 (**permalink**) 06-18-2008, 05:44 AM

Ray, once they build your chassis, there is "fairly frequent" activity. One of the biggest "gaps" is when the car goes to paint. Tony did mine and that was a 12 week exercise. They it had to go back to have some orange peel sanded down and buffed. Generally, once it's back from paint it will begin to move. Keep Peter's number on speed dial - and definitely send food. Enjoy the experience and visit frequently. Rick

RAO-3 · #14 (**permalink**) 06-18-2008, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rickd

Ray, once they build your chassis, there is "fairly frequent" activity. One of the biggest "gaps" is when the car goes to paint. Tony did mine and that was a 12 week exercise. They it had to go back to have some orange peel sanded down and buffed. Generally, once it's back from paint it will begin to move. Keep Peter's number on speed dial - and definitely send food. Enjoy the experience and visit frequently. Rick

Thanks for the tips! This will definitely help me plan my trips to ERA when my build starts. Would you say that, if I were to visit monthly, there would be significant progress? Excepting of course the time when it's off for paint. Would you say that is frequent enough, too frequent or not frequent enough?

Gee, this is worse than having a kid!

Ray

WarrenG · #15 (**permalink**) 06-18-2008, 11:43 AM

Monthly is probably a little too often if you want to see progress on the car. I visited about every other month prior to paint and about every 6 weeks for the next 6 months. The last 2-3 months that it was up there I was at the shop about every 3 weeks. When it was about ready to ship, I went up 3 weeks in a row just to verify that everything we had agreed on was completed prior to shipment. Total time from start to finish was about 16 months. BTW-I was driving from Largo, MD about a 6.5 hour drive, up and back in one long day.

patrickt · #16 (**permalink**) 06-18-2008, 12:34 PM

... you're going to have to decide between Tony's and Connecticut Custom Car.

RAO-3 · #17 (**permalink**) 06-21-2008, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patrickt

... you're going to have to decide between Tony's and Connecticut Custom Car.

Patrickt who did your car? It looks great in pictures!

cobraviper_99 · #18 (**permalink**) 06-25-2008, 07:10 AM

As the original owner of jagxjr5012's ERA#208, I can also vouch for the entire buying experience at ERA. I got to know Peter quite well during the time my car was being constructed and when I was producing the show Wild About Wheels for the Discovery Channel in 1992, we shot a feature at ERA which helped spread the word about them. jagxjr5012 and I have exchanged emails and he's told me how well the car has held up after over 20 years of use. I'm not surprised. I love my CSX car that I have now but if I were to go back to a non-Shelby car, ERA would definitely be my first choice. In fact, I priced a new ERA with Peter in 2001, shortly before deciding to bite the bullet and go with an aluminum-bodied Shelby.

One other quick note: About a year after driving ERA#208, the engine began acting very strange. Loss of power, rough idle, etc. A friend of mine ran a compression test and found I had some severe irregularities. I had the engine taken apart and a motor which was supposed to have been balanced and blueprinted was neither. I won't name the shop which built the engine for ERA, but when I called Peter and told him about the problem, he said to bring the crankshaft down to him so he could see the lack of any proper balancing on it. I did, and when he saw how botched the job had been done, he told me to have any engine builder of my choice go through the motor, make the needed repairs and he would cover it. The tab came to over $2000.00 and Peter was true to his word. You'll probably hear similar stories from other ERA customers and I've been a big fan of Peter, Phil, and Bob ever since.

I just wish Peter wouldn't jab me about CSX cars not being "real Cobras".

ZOERA-SC7XX · #19 (**permalink**) 06-18-2008, 05:48 PM

I went with Tony's and I'm not sorry, as he's just a little less expensive. I actually went to Tony's in central Mass one Saturday to meet him and check out progress. Tony's a real nice guy and like Peter is great to do business with. I saw him three weeks ago at ERA and he remembered me and my car. Good people.

xracerbob · #20 (**permalink**) 06-18-2008, 07:26 PM

Nice pic's! Mine is in the sea of cars (dark Maroon, no stripes). As for painter, don't overlook Ron Randall at Metalmorphous. Fred's car and my car were painted by him. Outstanding work and he now has some experience with the new body and makes a couple minor tweeks that are really nice when prepping the body for paint. He also bronzed Peter's sons first pair of racing shoes.