<VV> Something good about the Corvair hobby

[peter koehler]

At least we won't have the problem that has surfaced more 
than once in the high end of the car collecting hobby. I'm 
referring to a scenario where more than one vehicle claims 
the same identification number. Incredible as it sounds, 
some "folks" think they can build up a car from bits and 
pieces and somehow get a serial number on it that the 
original manufacturer never intended for it to have. 
Recently the second 1953 Corvette #029 showed up. The 
person owning the real #029 was miffed! Keep in mind that 
only 300 '53 Vettes were produced. At least that is the 
number that GM says. And there wouldn't be a gas tank 
sticker to refer to since that didn't come into play until 
the 1967 model year. A while back there was a story about 
a Jaguar racer (perhaps a "D" Type) that was run hard and 
rebuilt several times in it's life. Some enterprising soul 
took the damaged cylinder head from the original engine 
and built a complete new car around it. And used the 
original engine number to register the parts collection as 
a vehicle. Around the same time a third party took the 
original mangled frame from an off-course shunt and 
repaired it and built a third Jaguar racer around it and 
used the same ID number. Talk about confusion!

While I've joked about building up a V8 powered 1960 sedan 
with the VIN plate 100327 and it might be fun to try to 
duplicate the missing 1969 Olympic Gold Monza coupe #6000, 
it would be wrong and definitely illegal. Since these 
crazy ideas come up only when there is alcoholic beverage 
involved (yes, even Cavemen have been known to have "a 
beer") they are best left on the tavern floor. Even if 
someone did build a CloneVair is there any real money in 
it? I don't think so. Stick with fake Jags or fake Vettes 
or whatever floats your boat but leave us Corvair guys 
alone! - Pete