In a message dated 10/07/01 3:05:10 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
mgvrmark@hotmail.com writes:
> . 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.
>
Nor I, which is why I gave up writing and enforcing rules (except as a
business) years ago.
What, for instance, do you do with the guy who shows up with the Bugeye with
the 215 Olds in it (verifiable as a period race car and chosen as an example
that I'm pretty sure we'd all agree we would not like to see running without
some pretty convincing history).
Probably have to let him run.
OK, what do you do when his buddy shows up with another one, obviously copied
from the real one, but built decades later?
You could arguably deny him entry, for although the parts are all period,
they weren't assembled as a car in the relevant period.
But what if the second car is built by the owner of the real one, using bits
from it, as he had trashed the body, say, years ago, and kept some of the
parts. Does this scenario validate the car as a 'continuation' of the
original?
Many would say yes.
OK, so now what if we go through the previous scenario, the 'restoration' is
allowed to run, and 2 years later, the real original car shows up, verified
by serial number? Who gets told they can't race?
And even harder, what if car #2 was built from the chassis that the original
owner thought had been wrecked?
All this may sound a little far fetched, but believe me, it has happened in
Ferraris, and even more modest race cars, including one-off sports racing
cars.
The poor unappreciated scrutineer must make decisions like this, for which he
receives no thanks from anyone, just snarling and vituperation (some of these
cars are worth many times as originals what they would be as replicas).
I have one client who has the serial number plate, some significant main
parts, and a log book for an historic car that he wanted to rebuild some day
with a new tub. Imagine his surprise when he found that another car in
England suddenly appeared using his chassis number. In this case it was a D
type Jag (so we are talking big bucks here), and the guy that built it in
England obviously thought the original was long disappeared and that he was
safe in using the serial number for his Lynx D-type, based on having a rear
suspension upright or some such with that serial number on it, as a starting
point. It would probably take a lawsuit to sort that one out.
Bill
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