How many ERA Turbo's made/left/ for sale!

[ACEparts_com]

I was a mini NUT in my youth, would quite like to re-live it a little now i'm a whopping 34 (35 in a week!). Any good ERA turbo's about?

[Plotloss]

The very good ones are enormous money.

There are hardly any that havent been cocked about with.

The vast majority of good ones are now in Japan.

Once the other five are finished (started) the ERA will be the jewel in the collection crown.

[ACEparts_com]

I've found a couple - one for £8K and one for £20K

[PJR]

I used to have one.. Great Mini's!
1000 were supposed to be made. But in the end less than 600 were produced. Most went to Japan, and around 85 or so remained in the UK.

Take a look at this site for more info too..
http://www.eraturbo.co.uk/
In fact, I can see my old ERA on the front page pict there!

P,

[pistonring]

I bought one back in November. They do come up for sale it's just a case of looking very hard and being prepared to travel. Expect to pay at least £7K for anything reasonable although I looked at some real dogs that were up at £9K. There seem to be quite a few Jap spec ones that have been imported back to the UK but beware the Jap's have some very odd ideas about modifying these cars and I have seen ERA's with the front seats replaced with bucket seats, A repainted Taihiti blue one, One which had been converted to a webber carb with the turbo removed and a few with sportspack arches and the original bodykit removed. As stated above www.eraturbo.co.uk is the place to start. Ask on the forum, some of the guys on there could tell you where the last remaining genuine wheel hub cover bolt is located and know most of the cars in the UK. Jap spec ones are not quite as rare as UK ones and differ slightly having a wider bodykit and aircon with no sunroof. Exact numbers of UK ones still on the road is not know but its probably as low as about 50.

[Red Cabbage]

I nearly bought one a few years ago.

On the test drive with the trader I got pulled by the BiB for making a little too much progress. Luckily the BiB was a car enthusiast and after chatting aboout how rare the car was, sent me on my way.

Now and again I see one advertised and think hmmm....

Edited by Red Cabbage on Saturday 21st March 22:03

[era7]

hi there as iam new to this site i see some people are interested in the mini era, i may sell my era if anyone is interested regards era7

[JC T ONE]

I saw one in the "flesh" a few years back, when I was in London, it was in VERY nice condition, and parked next to my hotel, along Hyde park, I took a couple of photos, but couldnt get a good one through the glass, I think they look good inside. The owner was very protective about his car, it had a big lock on the steering wheel.

[ACEparts_com]

I'm interested Mr ERA7, post some details

[Lil' Joe]

What are they like to drive?

Always loved them, dont want to spoil it if their crap by driving one..;)

[PJR]

Lil' Joe said:

What are they like to drive?

They were an excellent drive, for a mini. A lot of research was put into making them handle well. A good mini handles well anyway of course. But ERA's were much better still. Steering was a little heavy, due to big wheels and tyres plus negative camber, but once on the move it was great. The ride even managed to become surprisingly smooth the faster you went. Next to sod all would catch one on a good twisty road! Fast enough Minis too, but not as fast in a straight line as you might have expected.

From having spoken to one of the original ERA development engineers (I think Terry Sanger was was the name) I always got the impression it wasn't quite the car they really wanted to make. ERA's were developed around the time various companies were trying to make 5 speed mini gearboxes, including Jack Knight, which had close ties with ERA. But Rover wouldn't provide warranty for a 3rd party 5 speed box, so 4 speeds it was.
Similar story with the engine. The first development ERA was tuned to well over 120bhp if I remember rightly. But it kept eating head gaskets and killing the weedy stock gearbox. So although the ERA Mini engine supposedly had many special parts unique to the car, it didn't produce any more oomph than a bog standard Metro Turbo engine on which it was based (so ultimately its near as makes no difference the same engine). Again, constrained by Rover for warranty reasons.

Still, it was classed as a factory built car (despite being converted from a bone stock Mini City in a small workshop in Dunstable). And hence has the title of most powerful & fastest production classic Mini made to date.

My only gripe with the car was the slightly OTT body kit, which wasn't particularly well made either.

P,

Edited by PJR on Friday 3rd April 17:52