Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Lee
The problem seems to be the owners, or at least a select few owners, of these 53 cars are concerned that if too much info is publicized then it will be that much easier to clone. I believe they are most concerned about VIN and data forging on the missing cars. A friend of mine has SS/AMX #3 (originally Frisbee Motors from the San Francisco bay area) and he had to come up with some pretty detailed information on the car to get it authenticated for the SS/AMX registry. I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing but what we have expressed to these individuals is a need for a document of authenticity such as offered by MOPAR guru Galen Govier or FOMOCO guru Kevin Marti.
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LOL. Yeah that may be the case, with certain owners, but oh well, it's not up to them. And they certainly have the right to feel any way they want but they don't have the power, nor the "priviledge" of stopping the information flow from other sources including for their car if it shows up on a list. Just its whereabouts and current owner may be mum. Which is fine. Any one of these cars, are, by any other comparable manufacturer standard, bargain basement priced. Concerns about cloning should be at the bottom of the list. In any case, those that want privacy with regard to their own individual car(s) will likely keep their privacy, however quesswork tied into an historically accurate car would be such that it wouldn't be tough to figure out all the details if someone saw it..
The real situation is not all the cars have been identified. Trying to find them by vins alone or first even, would be bassackwards anyway. Tracking them down will be far better accomplished by knowing a car's provenance by dealer/driver name when new and matching that with a document referring to the car. If a car in question comes up such that one can see it, then yes, the first thing to check would be the vin to confirm or deny, so to speak. Now, if someone currently owns a car that they know is one of the 53 but they haven't revealed that, well, how is anyone else going to know? For cars that simply haven't been identified because people that have them don't know what they are- those are the ones of interest. Even the searchers, and I'm one of 'em, don't know, as yet, what all the "official" cars are. We are narrowing things down, but unmistakable identification is still in the works on some.
Eventually something along the lines of a Marti or Govier "blessing" will be the case, but remember, the smoking gun paperwork clearly identifying the original total and the vins affected is/are the only true master document(s) to judge prospective cars from along the same lines as a Marti or Govier report. Even then, AMC documentation systems and breakout availability are not like other manufacturers. There's a distinct scarcity of manufacturing info, code breakdowns, and yearly totals. In the case of the SS's- given the small number built and the unique parts that they were supposed to be equipped with as per the Supplemental Parts Sheets, unique assembly line parts breakouts of how they were originally equipped isn't the problem, or even particularly pertinent. These were race cars from moment one, meaning change was the operative term ever after. Given that these cars were basic "kits" makes that even more the main point. Further complicating things are the changes the dealers made or likely made upon delivery, removing rocker panel trim, changing mirrors, swapping electric wiper motors for the vacuum ones, and the currently unknown nature of the instrument pods and some being hooded and some not. Were they switched at the dealer? Did AMC have a shortage on the line?
So the provenance for a car can involve vintage pictures, company memos, build sheets, the vin and so on. Primarily, documentation and the vin. Anything else, while helpful, can be changed or is not unique to just an Hurst SS.
Steve