I did not know Robin had a retractable aircraft in its stable. Saw one advertised and had to check it was not a typo. Read an article on it written for a magazine in 2004 and it seems a really nice aircraft. Has a very vague Socata (TB20) look to it imo. In 2004 they listed the price as £29,000. In the advert I saw it is listed at 85,000 euros. That is a serious appreciation in value. I guess at the end of the day supply and demand dictate. Anyone got real time flying on this type? Would not mind having a go. 
Hello!
I have not (knowingly) seen one of them yet, but Wikipedia knows something about them, that would scare me away from it: Link
Obviously, it had it’s own special geared Continental “Tiara” engine that was discontinued by Continental in 1980 (or 34 years ago). Good luck with locating spare parts for that one…
The Tiara engi e is indeed next toa no go. I understand however that it is possible to swap the Tiara for a 250 hp Lycoming IO540. Airframe is identical with the HR100/250TR.
There are several versions of the HR100, the more popular are the Royal and Safari with fixed gear and 200/210hp engines. They have quite extraordinary range of up to 1500 NM. The big engine versions with retracable gear were the 250/285 of which about 30 each ere built.
With a total volume of around 180 airframes, the HR100 is not exacly common. However, the fixed gear versions still have well over 100 airplanes flying.
It is certainly a nice tourer.
I am curious as to where this Tiara was advertised. AFAIK there are only 2 airworthy Tiaras left in Europe, I own one and the other is on the D Reg but based in the UK. There may be another one in France.
It might have been your aircraft Ted.P !!
I have noticed several advertisements on certain web sites which seem to have been put up without the knowledge of the owners. It’s presumably to pad out the listings, hoping to stop people realising that the site is in fact hopeless and only has 2 genuine adverts on there.
A short search reveals this, which is on Planecheck, which is not one of the sites I refer to above.
It’s F reg and has an IO540
http://www.planecheck.com/index.asp?ent=da&id=15395&cor=y
Adverts of planes for sale, without the owner knowing, is fairly common. I think the scam usually involves getting a deposit from the prospective buyer in return for a flight, but the flight never takes place because the “seller” does a runner with the deposit.
I recall one case where the deposit was about £10k! It was a TB20GT and there was a lot of interest, with a number of people emailing me (the price one pays for getting an article at or near the top of google hits) asking what I thought of it
The aircraft in planecheck is the President, which is more common than the Tiara. Price looks optimistic.
The Tiara engine would be called a GIO420 if it had a normal name. It has 285hp at 4000rpm geared to 2000rpm prop. A very smooth running engine. It has a VTC on the crankshaft and drives the prop through a quill shaft which also drives the camshaft. Therefore it doesn’t have a gearbox as such. It was the first new design in decades and had a number of unusual features e.g. separate cylinder heads. Unfortunately it arrived just a few years before the collapse of the aircraft market in the early 80s. There was also a 320hp version of the same engine with higher compression pistons. It was lighter, smaller and more powerful than the then current 540s and 520s.
I believe there are still a few Tiara engines flying in the the Piper Pawnee Brave ag-aircraft.
Bloomer,
for all I can see this is NOT a Tiara, but a President with the 250 hp IO540CB5 engine. Check page 2 of the linked document.
The review by Flyer linked IS a Tiara. So not the correct airplane reviewed.
