> From vintage-race-owner@triumph.cs.utah.edu Sat Sep 2 08:22:08 1995
> Received: from triumph.cs.utah.edu by world.std.com (5.65c/Spike-2.0)
> id AA03354; Sat, 2 Sep 1995 12:30:53 -0400
> Received: (from majordom@localhost) by triumph.cs.utah.edu (8.6.10/8.6.6)
> From: Tjackson82@aol.com
> Date: Sat, 2 Sep 1995 12:22:08 -0400
> Message-Id: <950902122208_9395990@mail04.mail.aol.com>
> To: vintage-race@autox.team.net
> Reply-To: Tjackson82@aol.com
> Status: R
>
> OK, folks, let me add fuel to the "replica" fire.
>
> I vintage race a 1965 Mustang fastback. It has been outfitted so it is
> historically correct to resemble a Shelby GT350. I do not tell people who
> that it's a Shelby, though it DOES look like one. And what was a Shelby if
> was not a Mustang modified by Shelby, who eagerly offered all the parts th
> made a Mustang a Shelby to anyone with cash?
> So, am I a charletan for racing this car in vintage?
> Terry Jackson,
> tjackson82.com@aol
>
I don't think you are a charletan for racing this car in vintage. You are
out to have fun. You readily admit what your car is. Charletans would try
to palm the car off as a real Shelby and sell it to unsuspecting buyers as a
real Shelby for big bucks. Part of the problem people have is that you might
not sell it as a Shelby, nor the next buyer, but what about the third or
foruth or fifth???
You car is not a Shelby, nor is a rebodied Ferrari 330 GT a Type 166, Testa
Rossa, or GTO.
By convention and laws in most jurisdictions, the original chassis is the
determinant of what a car really is. That is how you get your kit car
registered in most states. Many Cobra replicas are registered as Mustang
IIs, which were the donor car for the chassis.
Not mentioned is the two most interesting cases of a replica:
1) the Alfa Quattroroute Zagato. In the mid 60s, Quatroroute Magazine, ALfa
and Zagato joined in a project and built 92 "replicas" of the Alfa 6C1750
Zagato, perhaps the most renowned of the Alfa sports cars. The cars were
obvious replicas, based on Giulia Spider hardware, about 7/8th size with
fatter tires. Today they command prices equal to GTAs as collector cars.
2) The Ferrari 125 replicas built by the factory. They built one from
original drawings for show then offered to make more ( I do not know if they
have). I saw the first at the Montreal exhibit two weeks ago - it looks like
a brand new example of the first Ferrari! It was an opportunity to see in
the flesh that which no longer existed.
Replicas like these and semi-replicas like Virgil Exner's Excalibur are for
fun. Unfortunately, too many people look at replicas as opportunities to
profit from someone's ignorance. With Ferrari, it's easy becasue the factory
records are supposed to be so bad.
Rebuilding old cars (and even worse, Warbirds) may require replacing many of
the original parts, a practice that is generally accepted. Making it
something it never was and trying to say it was original is counterfeiting.
BTW, the guy who did the bodywork on my yellow spider has built a number of
Cobra kits for people. They cost about $45-50K to build a good one because
of the labor involved. He claims he knows of no one who has put over 5000
miles on one, because they are so awful to drive! I remember driving a 289
Cobra in Nashville in 1964 or 65 that the dealer couldn't sell for the $4500
asking price. After driving it, I could see why-it drove worse than any mid
50s English car I'd ever driven because of the willowy chasis that would
even flex each time you blipped the throttle! They are just not very nice
street machines, handfuls as racecars (I beat one at Lime rock once in my
Alfa 1300 (normal) Sprint coupe) and best as displayed art.
Jim Hayes @ fotec,inc. the fiber optic test equipment company
jeh@fotec.com 529 main st.
541-0037@MCImail.com boston,ma 02129
ph:800-537-8254 (US,Canada) 617-241-7810 fax: 617-241-8616
Web Home Page: http://www.std.com/fotec
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