I should have stayed out of this one...
Tom, you're exactly proving why Mayf would have a big issue with TAC. He's got a
car that is the genuine article. 20 years after he bought the car, some
organization starts itself up, pronounces itself the "experts", and in the
process puts all the car owners in the position of having to possibly account
for the car's pedigree, or at least having to justify to every stranger on the
street why his car doesn't have a TAC sticker. As a result of TAC, a lot of
Tigers and their owners are now somehow relegated to second-class status by a
lot of people, and that is an unnecessary slight.
If anyone says to me their car is the real thing, TAC sticker or no, I'll take
their word. If anyone else asked me about that car, I'd say "The owner says it's
real", and leave it up to them to sort out the details. I don't have the right
to go crawling under any car unless I'm invited to by the owner, and I certainly
don't have the right to say "Well, he says it's real but he doesn't have a TAC
sticker so...".
My opinion is that authentication programs, as well as the Tiger registry, are a
valuable asset to the Tiger community, just like this mailing list is. However,
just as there are a lot of people that own Tigers that don't or won't
participate on this mailing list, there are people that will not have their car
authenticated. Give them the respect and freedom to make their choice and quit
questioning their motives already.
Theo
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