Jeff, and Colin,
I strongly disagree with Jeff's characterization of an entire community
" You will be castigated and judged as having a devious and deceitful
personality ", and other strong words.
In my own opinion, most owner's do NOT look down on modified Tigers or
Alpines. Either with engine modifications, or swaps. I do believe,
however, that most individuals would be less than happy with an
imposter. That is, someone who DELIBERATELY tries to misguide anyone as
to his (or his cars) credentials. This is called fraud, and it is not
tolerable in any group. There are many Alpine owners who flatly state
that they have modified their Alpines to have V-6, V-8, or whatever
engines in them. They openly discuss their successes and problems, and
call their cars "Alpers", or whatever, but NOT "Tigers". Even the STOA
TAC (Tiger Authentication Committee) don't care if there is a Chevy 350
under the Tiger's hood, as long as it was originally a Tiger, then they
believe it can be called a Tiger.
The only organizations that take great pains to assure that EVERY item
is original equipment are the judges at Concours. This is true in the
Morgan groups as well. Points are deducted for non-originality for these
exhibits of authenticity. This is normal practice. Corvette owners even
go to the extreme of matching tag numbers on every part to make sure
that they are the correct part for that year, model, AND SERIAL NUMBER
car. More power to the winners in their groups. They know what they are
being judged by, and so do we - in a Concours there are also classes for
modified cars. They too have rules for each class of competition.
Bottom line. I do not personally know of anyone who "looks down" on
anyone elses form of expression in his car. Even original buyers had to
decide what options and colors they liked. I do know of people who
strongly feel that a counterfeit is dispicable, and I know of others who
believe that anything you can get away with is OK. Luckily they are few
in number.
Originality is not the issue, honesty is. I do believe that there may be
enthusiasts who have unwittingly purchased a counterfeit, because we do
know they are being offered for sale as original. I do not believe
anyone looks down on them. But I am sure they have plenty of feelings
about the perpetrator of the crime of fraud.
Don't be put-off, Colin, by mis-directed rancor. I am sure that Jeff is
not one of the group that supports counterfeiting. He does have strong
feelings about the STRONG FEELINGS that run around the net, and I don't
blame him. To this day, I can not understand some of the extreme, and
sometimes hostile positions taken publicly by some on what should be a
clear moral issue.
Steve
--
Steve Laifman < One first kiss, >
B9472289 < one first love, and >
< one first win, is all >
< you get in this life. >
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