[Vintage-race] An S1 with Duplicate Number... a can of worms?

[John Donohoe]

I think we're basically in agreement there. Honesty is what counts.
Thanks,John D.



--- On Fri, 1/8/10, Steve Shipley <shiples at comcast.net> wrote:

From: Steve Shipley <shiples at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [Vintage-race] An S1 with Duplicate Number... a can of  worms?
To: "John Donohoe" <sevenamerica at yahoo.com>, lotus at se7ens.net,
vintage-race at autox.team.net
Date: Friday, January 8, 2010, 7:03 PM


 
At 01:36 PM 1/8/2010 -0800, John Donohoe wrote:

Interested in opinions here, about
my treatment of this 'Series 1 Lotus
Seven'

which sports a new chassis plate showing #821 when I already know the
real

#821...


Before passing judgement, please consider this: The past two owners of
this

specific car contacted me before trying to sell it, and I told both of
them

that it was not #821. What did they do? They sold it on as Lotus Seven
#821.

The most recent buyer contacted me as the previous owners did, and I told
him

the same thing: I know the real #821, and your car is not it. Further I
told

him that I had informed both of the previous owners of the fact. Well,
the

current owner has now decided to sell the car and has asked me to list
it.
He

was comfortable with me including the special notes you see on the

page:
http://www.simplesevens.org/0821a.htm.

I think he deserves a lot of credit for being willing to put an end to
the

charade that this is the genuine #821. I think also that by me posting
the
car

as I have, I am educating the potential Seven buying public as to a car
that

is carrying a duplicate number. No, I don't like showing a car with a
dodgy

number, but I do feel that by showing it the issue becomes public and
future

buyers are better able to make an informed decision.

There, that's off my chest :-) So tell me what you think! I am
genuinely

interested in your opinions.

There's a range for originality, from untouched to touched quite a
lot.

In my opinion, if the owner is honest about what they're up to, there's
no

foul.  If an organization excludes a car because it isn't authentic,
that's

fine too.  I think that acknowledging clones, fakes, and
counterfeits as

part of the hobby it validates the most original examples.  I'd like
to
think

that the fakes can be enjoyed without fear of loss and perhaps
enhances

the status of the historic, original, correct, etc.  Maybe the
person who

counterfeited #821 wouldn't have felt the need to create a lie if a car
that

has lost it's identity would be accepted with the true story of the
history
of the car.