Thanks for the info. I had no idea FFR & Shelby were at it. Here's a good
read.
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/02/22/shelby-loses-lawsuit-against-factory-five
-racing/
Here is my take on all of this. Shelby is actually better off that there
were a zillion unauthorized reproductions made.
It helped popularize the Cobra. In addition the prevalence of the Cobra
kits helped to raised the value of the "real authorized Cobras"
What will happen to the Cheetah? Nobody will make them. I don't know what
a "Thomas Letter" cost but it is probably something outrageous.
I remember looking at that Cheetah outfit a few years ago and they wanted
something like $68K for a Cheetah reproduction.
I can also remember back in the late 80's a company call Everret-Morrison
was making a Cheetah clone.
I think they wanted around $10K for the chassis/body kit.
_____
From: HealeyRick [mailto:healeyrick at yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2011 8:30 PM
To: spridgets at autox.team.net; Dean Hedin
Subject: RE: [Spridgets] Watford Hardtop
Dean,
Actually, I think you get 67 letters and the Thomas family will make another
100 available (don't know if there's an additional charge for those). Looks
like the Thomas family is maintaining control over the rights to produce
Bill's creation and not make the same error that Carroll Shelby made by
arguably allowing the Cobra design to fall into the public domain. No way
FFR will try to do a Cheetah replica. Take a look at all the Shelby-FFR
litigation and see how much FFR spent trying to maintain the ability to
produce their cars. Replicar production can be pretty interesting legally.
Google "Cobra trade dress" if you want an education. Or try to build and
sell a Ferrari replica. Their lawyers will be happy to give you an
education that would make a colonoscopy pleasant by comparison.
Rick
Follow My Nasty Boy Build: http://tinyurl.com/yj52fwo
--- On Mon, 12/5/11, Dean Hedin <dlh2001 at comcast.net> wrote:
From: Dean Hedin <dlh2001 at comcast.net>
Subject: RE: [Spridgets] Watford Hardtop
To: "'HealeyRick'" <healeyrick at yahoo.com>, spridgets at autox.team.net
Date: Monday, December 5, 2011, 7:49 PM
Rick, So tell me.
After reading through that ebay post it looks like you get the rights to
build 32 more Cheetahs and
then after that you have to buy "Letters" from the Bill Thomas estate if you
want to build more?
WTF?
There are a zillion Cobra kit car manufacturers. Are you telling me that
are all buying "Letters" from the Shelby family?
No wonder the business is up for sale.
I wish Factory Five would start making them and call them "Panthers" or
something like that.
_____
From: HealeyRick [mailto:healeyrick at yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2011 6:21 AM
To: spridgets at autox.team.net; Dean Hedin
Subject: RE: [Spridgets] Watford Hardtop
You're in luck. The whole Cheetah business, jigs, molds and all is on the
bay: http://tinyurl.com/6sw64hj
Rick
Follow My Nasty Boy Build: http://tinyurl.com/yj52fwo
--- On Sun, 12/4/11, Dean Hedin <dlh2001 at comcast.net> wrote:
From: Dean Hedin <dlh2001 at comcast.net>
Subject: RE: [Spridgets] Watford Hardtop
To: "'HealeyRick'" <healeyrick at yahoo.com>, spridgets at autox.team.net
Date: Sunday, December 4, 2011, 11:24 PM
The heck with the Sprite top..
I like that link just for the vintage Cheetah pictures!
That's a muscle car that I wouldn't mind killing myself in.
-----Original Message-----
From: spridgets-bounces at autox.team.net
[mailto:spridgets-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of HealeyRick
Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2011 12:22 PM
To: spridgets at autox.team.net
Subject: [Spridgets] Watford Hardtop
Scroll down to the middle of this thread to see an unusual bugeye fastback
hardtop from the UK : http://tinyurl.com/7az783r
Rick
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