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Re: Vintage race cars built today

To: vintage-race@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Vintage race cars built today
From: "Mark Palmer" <mgvrmark@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 22:03:24 -0000
> > What's the consensus on letting faux Shelby Cobras race?  I frequently 
>see
> > them referred to as vinatge racing legal.
> >

Seems to me the Cobra thing is a completely different situation than what we 
started talking about.

If I run out & buy a '64 MGB that never raced, and turn it into a vintage 
racer, at least the CAR existed "in the period" as a single entity.  Who 
knows, it indeed could have been raced a time or two by it's then-owner, 
even if we have no evidence of that.

If I buy a modern Cobra replica, no matter how accurate, it never existed 
"in the period".  Even if it has Carroll Shelby's blessing as some sort of 
"continuation" car, it is still a modern car to my way of thinking.  I 
understand they're making Lotus 23 frames somewhere, and bodywork is 
available too, and of course engines ... but that's still a replica in my 
opinion.  Of course there are Westfield Elevens, and Caterham's, and on and 
on.

The third very distinct situation is the recently created H-Mod car, where 
someone locates a suitable ERIOD-made body, PERIOD-made frame, and uses a 
period engine.  This strikes me as something in between the above-mentioned 
MGB and Cobra examples.  This H-Mod never existed as a single entity in the 
period, but all the components existed in the period.  It's not fabricated 
out of modern-made components.

Three different situations .... and where does one choose to draw the line? 
And of course there are all sorts of examples in between, the George 
Washington axe situation, etc.  I don't think it is a simple matter at all, 
and I don't envy guys like Jack Woehrle or Jerry Greaves or whomever that 
has to make the decisions for their club/employer.

Mark Palmer
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