A rare British V8.

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Raymond Mays V8 sports cars were produced at Eastgate House , Bourne , Lincolnshire in the E.R.A workshops by " Shelsley Motors Ltd " a company set up to distribute them.

Five cars were designed in 1938 and finished in 1939 with only two surviving today.

They were planned to be E.R.A sports cars but with internal bickering within the board and E.R.A concerning trade mark ownership , financing and WW2 on the horizon , the venture stalled but not before four cars took part in the RAC rally in 1939 and then one car driven around Brooklands by A.F Rivers Fletcher at a tad under 110 m.ph.

After the end of the hostilities the market for large sports cars disappeared and Raymond Mays was so engrossed with the B.R.M project and the E.R.A concern was broken up and sold off.

The chassis , steering and running gear was supplied from John Black M.D of Standard cars and was suitably modified and altered by the race team at Bourne led by Peter Berthon with the handling in particular attracting glowing praise from the motoring press and with the speed attained at Brooklands the car was no slouch.

There was friction between Black and Lyons due to Standard producing parts that were common between particularly the SS Jaguars and supplying them to E.R.A for the Raymond Mays but this was soon forgotten about as all car production was stopped in the U.K and the factories were used to produce items for the struggle ahead.