John Macartney wrote:
>
> For my money, the truly genuine car is the one that was
> photographed at the start of its first event. From thereon, it tends
> to become less and less its former self and even though it may survive
> to this day in a similar and convincing form, it very probably isn't
> what we'd all like to believe it is - namely 'the original'
> It's a genuine replica.
Jonmac :
While I agree wholeheartedly with your other comments, I disagree with
this one. Racecars change over time, as you've so well illustrated, a
car at the end of it's successful career is unlikely to have many parts,
if any, in common with the 'same' car at the beginning of it's career.
So, the best a restorer can do, is to choose a point in the car's
career, and restore it to that condition as best as possible with the
(sometimes severely limited) information available. Saying "This is the
car that won Le Mans in '58" when it doesn't have the modifications made
for that race is just as false as saying "This car is factory original"
when it has been modified for racing.
Frankly, I feel that some of the most interesting aspects of a restored
racecar are the modifications that were made, and the way it looked when
it was campaigned. While 'works' cars are certainly interesting, cars
modified by private individuals are no less so. And in many cases, it's
probably better not to ask just how much or little the company
management knew about the actions of people like Kas Kastner and Ken
Richardson.
Randall
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