Great discussion- I hope someone is taking notes, so we can have a condensed
version of this for the web, and future discussions.
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BTW, Welcome to Terry Jackson, tjackson82@aol.com
In case you haven't recognized him, Terry wrote the book (Well, at least A
very good book), on Vintage Racing British Sports Cars. Then he goes out and
builds himself a 'Stang- go figure. :-)
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The way *I* see it, Vintage Racing is for racing *Vintage cars*.
This should include:
1) Original race cars, both production and special made.
These cars with race history are the purist core of the group, but are not
alone.
2) Original production cars, which could have been raced "back then". These
are the cars for most of us, who can't afford to buy 30 or 50 years of race
history, but still enjoy the sport. Cars should be prepared similarly to
original, with period modifications. Very few race built or production race
cars went unmodified from year to year, or even race to race.
Putting a 1995 Ford block in a 65 Mustang, or a Toyota rear end in an MGA
isn't vintage. But, when the guy with a 3 wheel Morgan Super Sport has to
machine a new crankcase from billet stock after shattering the un-obtainable
original, well, that one seems pretty proper!
3) Restorations and re-frabrications of original cars. This is one area where
things can get fuzzy, but the clubs, and individual marque registers have done
a pretty decent job of drawing a line, and trying to track real cars vs.
fakes. As long as it's based on the remains of an original car, with
reasonable proof, it gets called that car. This lets us bring back very badly
damaged or deteroriated cars that would otherwise be lost forever.
4) Recreations? The re-body question. This one's a little harder to pin down,
but cars built on an original vintage chassis are still Vintage, even with new
bodies. I'm sure no one would throw out a Bugatti Royale, just because the
body has been changed, several times even! I think someone's craftmanship to
recreate an original style, or other period body on an otherwise original car
should be regarded as vintage, but the history should be clear, and not passed
of as, say a specific car in history, just because it looks like it.
4) Replicas? There's several levels of even these. Frazer Nash made their own
replicas of their LeMans cars- it's even the model name, right? Frazer Nash
LeMans Replica, as opposed to a replica (small r) of a Frazer Nash LeMans
Replica! There's a lot of period factory and home made replicas that are
vintage in every sense of the word.
This goes both ways- I've heard of an MG P type being rebuilt to Q-type
specifications (But will remain identified as a P-type), as well as single
seater N-types with years of race history being rebodied to their original
production bodies- Authentic in either form, I hope.
But both real replicas, rebuild/recreations do need to be fabricated using
original components.
5) Modern replicas- cars made from scratch, as copies of vintage cars. Call
them what they are- new. They're neat, and often more affordable, but they're
not vintage. The best we can hope for here, is that they will be identified
as what they are, and not passed off as original. (This includes new Cobras
made by Shelby himself!)
I personally don't feel that modern replicas belong in vintage racing, but
could still be great fun to take to some kinds of track events. If there is
some club that wants to let them race, they should be clearly identified and
classed as such.
Beyond the basics, there are many, many fuzzy gray lines to be dealt with.
Like MGB's, rebodied with shells made from the original factory tooling. Hey-
even the factories often rebodied their original race cars, including chassis,
bodywork, driveline, uni-body, or whatever.
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________
/___ _ \ Roger Garnett (Roger-Garnett@cornell.edu)
/| || \ \ Agricultural Economics | The Wayward Sports Car Centre
| |___|| _ | 3 Warren Hall | http://www.wayward.team.net/
| | \ | | | Cornell University |
\| \ |__/ / Ithaca, N.Y. 14853-7801 | (607) 533-7735
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