All this flap about the repro air cleaners reminds me of a big to-do in
England a few years ago. A Jaguar SS-100 hit the circuit, both in concours
and historic racing classes. The owner admitted that the only original piece
was a floor pan section of about 6 inches square _AND_ the serial number
plate with registration. Everything else had been replaced or fabricated.
The official determination was that this was an authentic SS-100 because all
of the new stuff was TRUE to the original design of the car.
I don't buy into that - but where do you draw the line?
My feeling is that we acquired these FLFs to enjoy. Enjoyment is driving the
damn things and - when you do that, stuff happens - more so to some than to
others. Then what do you do? Park it? Continue to drive it with honorable
battle scars? Or fix it up and continue to enjoy it?
I do admire original low mileage cars. At the same time, I feel sorry for
the owners who deprived themselves of the joy of owning and _using_ them.
Was it Nancy Sinatra who sang "These boots were made for walking"? Well,
these cars were made for driving!
'Nuff said - "Ole"
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