As Editor, I wrote a Pacific Tiger Club Newsletter article in February
'96 concerning a national club. There was almost no response. The Tiger
community doesn't seem to want to get its act together-and those who try to
do so (like STOA and Tom regarding TAC, Glenn Fukui for chairing and changing
T.U., or Norm regarding TIROST) get pilloried for their efforts. Then we
choose to not support Sunbeam vendors, or cry about their costs. Rick McLeod
told me he estimated there were possibly no more than 10,000 Rootes car TOTAL
on the road in the U.S... These cars are ORPHANS-if we're going to keep them
on the road, we need a little more joint cooperation.
I don't agree with Norm Miller on everything ;), but the guy is doing a
job few else are willling, or able to do. Tom Hall IS an accepted EXPERT in
the Tiger world-if you don't know that sorry, but it's true. TAC is based on
Tom's knowledge, and the combined knowledge of many Tiger knowledgeable
owners on the west coast, all of it in agreement on data and type that
supports TAC. He's been there, and done that. He could have designed and
charged for a 'Certification of Authentication for Tigers', that would have
been seen as credible, and valuable. Instead, Tom Hall designed TAC as an
asset for STOA, and GAVE it to the club. Why? Because Tom believes in STOA,
and wanted to support the club, not make a personal buck.
Should the info be disseminated at large two things will happen:1)The
ability
to detect fakes becomes harder because the 'creators' will know how to make
the car look like a Tiger, and as the potential for 'fakes' increases, so
does the potential for fraud. 2)STOA loses one feature it had that made it
different from the other clubs. STOA will only survive if people see it as
having value for them, thus worth their membership fees.
STOA chose to do something, and you guys come along saying, "I don't
trust you, who says you're the expert, we want a voice...". Sorry, but TAC IS
established, IS viable, and the bonafide cars are getting passed, and the
questionable are not; that's how things are. I see that as supporting the
TIGER marque directly!
If you check, there are 'for profit' car clubs in the world. Shelby
American Automobile Club (SAAC) is one of 'em. A great club, but it's run by
money. Why do you think GT350s and Cobras became so valuable? They were
wonderful cars, with winning records, but SAAC had a national organiziation
to support its membership, and it also marketed the marque to the Nth
degree...
The Tiger world DID have problems with fake Tiger rip-offs-Norm Miller
and Tom Ehrhart and Curt Meinel and Tom Hall and Larry Atkisson and Rick
McLeod and many others can all tell about ALGERS with a Tiger script on the
side being sold as Tigers...Some of them were well done, some weren't, but
there are more than a few out there. Would you want to be the guy who got
stuck? Ongoing dilution of the marque with 'rebodied restorations' will cause
all Tiger owners eventual grief. Would you have bought a Tiger if you thought
it wasn't real? Not for the same price as a "REAL" Tiger, I'd bet....How
could you afford to restore your Mark I, and sell it to buy that Mark II
you've always wanted if all of the potential puchasers saw your Mark I as
nothing more than "probably a hot-rod Alpine, you can never be sure if it's a
real Tiger"...TAC is the ONLY attempt I've ever seen to address this problem.
A lot of the complaints seem to be about being 'out of the loop', and
not
able to access TAC. In part I agree, and that's why I wrote about a national
umbrella club, made up of all the existing clubs, and the ability to
franchise their specialties to the other member clubs [STOA's TAC and CAT's
parts system to name just two] (and yes, I DID mention STAC in my article-in
fact I reviewed the document with Kevin Jewell who signed the original). If
anyone wants to read the article, E-mail me, and I'll probably send you a
copy.
Re: Brock's comment about the restorations at PB Concours being 'newly
created cars'-I don't necessarily think so. A good friend of mine does
restoration metal work, and his body restorations have won at PB (best in
Stutz class last year). They use EVERYTHING they can. They add new bits to
the EXISTING car, not a new car to some EXISTING bits. Admittedly, in rare
cases cars are created out of the air, based around a surviving part. This is
due to historical significance of the car created, but it is NEVER worth
anything near what the original would've been had it survived intact. I'm
sorry, but Tigers currently are not rare enough to necessitate their ongoing
'creation'.
Tigers have value above Alpines because of their limited production,
their history, and their performance. Algers only have the performance. For
some that's enough-'bang for the buck'. They just aren't worth as much.
Tigers that rust away, rust away. Stripping the parts off, sticking 'em on
an Alpine shell with holes hacked in the X member and the firewall bashed in
doesn't make it a Tiger again, does it? So the careful rebody doesn't really
make it a Tiger either, but a re-body. A great car, but not as valuable as a
real Tiger, because it's not the real thing as made at Jensen. I know a guy
who bought a Tiger, only to learn it was an Alger rebody. He was very
unhappy. He felt he'd been defrauded, because he paid a Tiger price for an
Alpine with a V8.
Fraud. Ugly word. Tiger bits on an Alpine body makes a fast Alpine, not
a Tiger. If you put the good Alpine bits on the Tiger to rebuild it, its a
Tiger. If you don't want to do it (too hard, too expensive, too wrecked)
then BUY ANOTHER TIGER. They're for sale out there. Some guys are now doing
excellent restorations of cars long thought too far gone-they may re-skin a
car, but the Alpine parts go on the Tiger, not the other way around.
To answer both Brock and Jay concerning if anyone else inspects
cars....HAHAHAH. Name a major marque, that in their own way
doesn't...Straman built beautiful Ferrari spyders out of 365GTB4 Daytonas,
yet they are shunned at Ferrari meets-not done by Scaglietti, so they don't
count, and are worth only slightly more than Daytona coupes, whereas the
original spyders are big time dollars. On a more reasonable level, look no
farther than GT350s and run of the mill 2+2 Mustangs...SAAC DOES inspect
these cars to ensure it's a TRUE Shelby, and not a rebody, especially when a
'lost' car is requesting entry in their register... Valuewise the REAL Shelby
GT350 is easily worth almost twice what a V8 2+2 is worth...even if it's a
Shelby clone.
Lastly, for Rick-Should you attempt to inspect/register a car without
vin tags, it will be impounded as a possible stolen vehicle. Should it be at
a paint shop of questionable repute when the cops sweep in, they'll seize it
as a possible stolen car. Should you attach those tags with rivets that
don't fool the state inspectors, at best you will get a state VIN tag affixed
(riveted) to your car, leaving all future potential purchasers to wonder
about the vehicle's provenance. Or, the inspector could impound the car
until they are satisfied it isn't stolen, then release it with their lovely
state tags. Oh, sometimes they also seize the old vin tag. Also, just
removing the tags is against the law (defacing/obscuring/removing machine
serial numbers).
Do what you want with your cars, they're YOUR property. Just don't think
you're doing the right thing when you "save" your Tiger by taking the easy
way out and move the tags to an Alpine shell. As far as STOA and TAC, thank
God TAC will allow me to avoid those cars.
I'm done. In fact, I'm really fed up. As Ramone said, you people just
don't get it.
Von Levandowski
B947XXXX TAC #160
not a STOA member
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