BRA

John Berry and Peter Ibbotson formed Beribo Replica Automobiles in Doncaster and launched the BRA marque in 1981. The first 1800-V8/289 was Britain's earliest replica moulded from an original AC Cobra 289, followed by Gerry Hawkridge's separate 427 and the MG-inspired J-Type and P-Type roadsters. The founders' retirement interrupted original production in the early 1990s, but projects, tooling and licensed marque rights passed through Rodney Rushton, Tyler Industrial Mouldings, BRA Engineering/BRA Motor Works, Leighton Cars and Aero Cycle Cars. James Mather's acquisition and engineering work transformed BRA's emphasis. He lengthened and refined Berry and Ibbotson's Honda-powered CX3 reverse trike, then with David Wiles developed the simpler front-drive Citroën 2CV-based CV3. Production at Flintshire peaked above 30 kits per month; the company gained its own approved VIN structure, international agents and a 1999 Welsh Trade Office export award. Moto Guzzi MG3 chassis, the GRP-bodied Leighton, a registered four-wheel CV4, the Metro-powered MR3 prototype, two Rover K-series Q4 Challenger buggies and John Berry's one-off Panda/Moke-style utility car complete the defensible range. More than 1,000 BRA-related cars and kits are estimated across all custodians, but model totals conflict sharply: the marque archive reports more than 260 289s while later encyclopedic work gives 480, and the 427 is variously dated 1981–1982 or 1984–1986 with totals of 12 or 38. Those contradictions are preserved model by model. BRA Motor Works retained the names and logo after selling licensed rights for specific trikes in 2002; Aero Cycle Cars continued CV3/CV4 and related cyclecar work into the 2010s before production was reported paused. Because rights and parts/history support persisted, the marque is not assigned an invented dissolution date. The complete catalog comprises twelve materially distinct production or complete-prototype families; donor engines, customer builds and isolated special-power CX3 chassis remain variants rather than extra models.

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