[Nedsel]

So, fifty pages later, it boils down to the definition of "replica" in the dictionary - "an exact copy or model of something" - versus a paragraph in the 2008 SAAC Registry explaining that many different copies of the "Cobra" had been built that were really nothing like the original, yet they were still considered "replicas" in peoples' minds. So, as stated in the registry: "This left the true replicas - like Shelby's CSX 4000s - to come up with another name to describe themselves. Because he did not want his cars devalued by using the term 'replica,' Shelby chose "Component Cobra." And the MSO - Manufacturer's Statement of Origin - for a CSX 4xxx-series car states that is is sold without an engine or transmission, so in fact it is a component car, i.e. sold incomplete.

It would appear to me that each of these factors suggests the real argument should be "Why does every thread devolve into a Component vs. Replica argument?"