Quote:
Originally Posted by Nedsel
Joyridin, you raise an interesting point. Let's look at the motivation behind the use of a Shelby American or AC Cars ID tag on a car that has nothing on it manufactured by either company. Who installed the tag and why? Surely they knew what the car was, so why go to the trouble of adding a tag that claims the car is something that it is not? To fool themselves? Not likely. To fool someone else? Now you are getting closer. Whether it is just to make a joke of the car's real heritage or because "everyone else does it, so I did, too" really doesn't matter. It approaches misrepresentation, which is only a few steps away from fraud.
Personally, I have never understood the rationale behind using an ID tag from another manufacturer on one's car. Is the owner not proud of the work that has gone into it? If he doesn't want the casual observer to know it is a ABC instead of a XYZ, why did he buy it in the first place? I would love to hear a rational response to the simple question "Why does your car have an ID tag on it saying it was manufactured by Shelby American, Los Angeles, CA, when it clearly was not?"
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Ned, considering 95% (or higher) of the population couldn't tell a 60's Cobra from a 90's replica, my guess is it makes the owner feel like a big shot when he is not. I have been at car shows and listened to Cobra owners tell people their car is real. Whether they were saying it as a joke or not I do not know, but the car had a small block, Subie seats, and about everything else wrong you could imagine....but it had the tag! Adding a few stamping with numbers that are not real isn't doing anything more than trying to build a more accurate replica than the guy before him.