Quote:
Originally Posted by 1ntCobra
I don't disagree with your statement. However, David dealt with Polish companies called Geppard and ZKA before buying the Polish factory.
The registry mentioned that Geppard also made a Morgan-like sports car. I don't think David was buying the Morgan replicas, so Geppard/ZKA already had a way of selling non-Cobra replicas to people. Is it possible that Geppard or ZKA could have sold Cobra bodies and frames to people other than the Kirkhams? I don't know, that is Dugly's theory, not mine.
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Yes, it is! Perhaps a bit of sequential speculation:
1.) The story on the Kirkham website clearly says Kirkham went to Poland to see the factory...since that same factory is still producing for Kirkham, it's reasonable to believe Kirkham liked what he saw.
2.) Kirkham takes the body bucks for their product to Poland and sets them up, perhaps trains some of the workers, and comes home to concentrate on things here. Essentially, at that point he is just purchasing labor from the Polish company...it makes sense that the raw materials would have been sourced from Europe...so the factory now has not only the body bucks but also the materials to do as Kirkham wants. The only problem could be that Kirkham failed to take whatever measures would be necessary to ensure exclusive delivery of bodies/frames to him as a singular purchaser.
3.) Realizing that there were no prohibitions against selling to other than just Kirkham, the Polish factory takes advantage of the situation and produces "bandit" bodies/frames for a few private parties. Kirkham finds out about it and proceeds to protect their proprietary position by buying the factory and putting in place personnel and prohibitions against selling to anyone else. Problem solved?
Perhaps...makes sense to me, but IF (and "they" say "IF" is the biggest word in the English language!!) it happened that way, what about those early bodies/frames that were built and sold "under the table", so to speak? They could certainly not have been sold with any form of MSO...explaining that issue, too.
I looked at the photos of those Kirkham body bucks briefly...I always envision body bucks being wooden "forms", so to speak, but those look very much like pipe. Could the "bulky" margins of the fishmouth be an early effort to form that opening, perhaps so unsuccesful that the body might have been sold as a "factory second"...all of this unbeknownst to the Kirkhams?
I know, guys...it's ALL speculation, but it just seems reasonable to me and unless the Kirkhams chime in and clear up this case speculation is all we have.
Cheers!!!
Dugly
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