[Vintage-race] An S1 with Duplicate Number... a can of worms?

[Steve Shipley]

At 01:36 PM 1/8/2010 -0800, John Donohoe wrote:
>Interested in opinions here, about my treatment of this 'Series 1 Lotus Seven'
>which sports a new chassis plate showing #821 when I already know the real
>#821...
>
>Before passing judgement, please consider this: The past two owners of this
>specific car contacted me before trying to sell it, and I told both of them
>that it was not #821. What did they do? They sold it on as Lotus Seven #821.
>The most recent buyer contacted me as the previous owners did, and I told him
>the same thing: I know the real #821, and your car is not it. Further I told
>him that I had informed both of the previous owners of the fact. Well, the
>current owner has now decided to sell the car and has asked me to list it. He
>was comfortable with me including the special notes you see on the
>page: http://www.simplesevens.org/0821a.htm.
>I think he deserves a lot of credit for being willing to put an end to the
>charade that this is the genuine #821. I think also that by me posting the car
>as I have, I am educating the potential Seven buying public as to a car that
>is carrying a duplicate number. No, I don't like showing a car with a dodgy
>number, but I do feel that by showing it the issue becomes public and future
>buyers are better able to make an informed decision.
>There, that's off my chest :-) So tell me what you think! I am genuinely
>interested in your opinions.

There's a range for originality, from untouched to touched quite a lot.
In my opinion, if the owner is honest about what they're up to, there's no
foul.  If an organization excludes a car because it isn't authentic, that's
fine too.  I think that acknowledging clones, fakes, and counterfeits as
part of the hobby it validates the most original examples.  I'd like to think
that the fakes can be enjoyed without fear of loss and perhaps enhances
the status of the historic, original, correct, etc.  Maybe the person who
counterfeited #821 wouldn't have felt the need to create a lie if a car that
has lost it's identity would be accepted with the true story of the history 
of the car.