~ It was suggested that tigerizing a Sunbeam is criminal,
I've owned one or two unique, collectible versions of wider-
production vehicles, and I've been interested in several
others. Any time you get a factory "special" that's worth
more than its run-of-the-mill counterpart -- in my case, a
Lotus Cortina for the most obvious LBC example -- you run the
risk that someone will take the base model, slap on some
decals and badges, maybe even add the right engine and drivetrain
components, and try to pass the car off as the desirable (and
more expensive) component.
For me, it's a matter of intent. I consider several such
variants myself from time to time, as if not Wonderful Cars,
then at least as Pretty Cool Cars. Let's take the Mini as
such an example. I don't think it'd be the least criminal for
me to buy a stock Mini 1000 and start improving it -- adding
a 1300 GT motor with a hotter cam, Cooper S disc brakes, and
maybe even an Abingdon Special Tuning rally paint job (red
with a white roof).
What would be criminal would be my attempt to sell this as
a *real* Mini Cooper S. That's fraud, not only in my
interpretation but also in the interpretation of the law in
at least a few cases I've read about (mainly in drop-top
conversions of cars like Ferrari Daytonas, where the factory
made something like 9 convertibles and 100 coupes, and therefore
the factory convertibles are worth 10 times what the coupes are,
except that now the numbers of convertibles and coupes are
approaching parity...)
Someone who upgrades the performance of a car by using readily
available, even factory-approved components is just a hot-rodder,
and therefore a kindred spirit in some way. Someone who changes
the appearance solely for the purpose of deceiving, on the other
hand, is at best a poseur and a phony, and at worst guilty of
criminal fraud and deception if he tries to sell the car as a
fake.
Let's take an example drawn from recent experience. SOL and
M.G. club editor Leah Hyke attended the May tour in the company
of a friend with a very nice Cortina GT Mk I. This is the
same body style as the famous Lotus Cortina (a less famous
Lotus Cortina used the Mk II body), though with substantive
changes to suspension rates, brakes, powertrain, and of course
the famous green-and-white paint. Leah's friend had upgraded
the suspension (possibly beyond Lotus spec) and had a hot pushrod
Ford motor in that probably put out more power than the 1558cc
Lotus Twin Cam that the Cheshunt-built Lotus version would have
had. Now, I thought this was a very cool car indeed, and had
no thought of fakery. I would have been willing to forgive him
even if he'd gone so far as to install a genuine Twin Cam in the
engine bay -- because the car was solid white and kept the GT
chrome trim (which was removed on the Lotus). (Oh, and if
anyone is looking at a Lotus Cortina and wants to know whether
it's authentic or not, call me; I still remember most of the
things to look for, and I can look up the rest if necessary.)
Leah's friend is an example, as far as I'm concerned, of a brother
hot-rodder -- someone who took advantage of mix-and-match factory
parts to get some more performance out of a more basic model. If
the people putting Ford V8s into Alpines are only doing that, then
I'd say more power to 'em except they'll probably have enough when
the swap is done. :-) As long as it's for personal use, hey, it's
just a car. It's not a holy shrine, it's not the Pieta, it's just
something you have fun driving. As long as you're not trying to
pretend it's something it isn't.
So in my own mind, that's where I draw the line. To take an
extreme (if not British) example, I've looked into buying a '65
Mustang fastback and upgrading the engine and suspension to
Shelby specs (or better, as there are one or two tweaks that
incorporate '80s engineering rather than what was available in
1965, even to the Shelby crew). I've also always liked the
Shelby plexiglass replacements for the rear vents, and of course
a GT-350 hood scoop would look cool and drive a little more cold
air into the carburetor. So far, I don't think I'm guilty of
any crime more heinous than talking about a hypothetical American
car on the British cars list. But if I then painted the car blue
and white and tried to get $50,000 for it, well, that's another
story entirely.
~ At least it's a crime of passion.
~ 8^)
Does that mean that if you try to drive the car, the L.A.
cops will follow you around the freeway all day? :-)
--Scott
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