Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Lee
These "people" hold some of the most important documentation and refuse to release it for public consumption. Specifically, they hold the 1969 VIN and crossover to the 1970 AMC issued VINs. That's pretty important. AMC instructed and supplied 1970 VINs and changeover parts. There is documentation to support this and as I said, a cross reference.
No doubt any and all SS/AMX owners can exchange knowledge and anything else they like but in my opinion they are not doing anybody a favor.
FYI - I'm getting a pair of correct SS/AMX 4584 Holleys restored to new condition and they will be for sale once completed. If you know anybody missing these valuable pieces, send them my way.
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Ha ha. Well, we disagree.
If they got it, so can others get it. What it takes, and I believe the players are in place with the gumption, is undeterrable determination. Don't see the place these cars have in the real overall scheme of things in the car and race car world as the equivalent of the Ferrari Registry or the like where cars change hands for millions and maintenance costs alone get into the hundreds of thousands. The stakes are considerably higher there. But the resources exist and are available to determine the various cars' provenance. See, the people I've encountered that own one or two or have owned a car in the past have been nothing but forthcoming, helpful, friendly, and generous with the information they have. Same goes for the big players in part responsible for creating these cars in the first place. But somehow I and others are to believe that a select few got a whole ream of source information in black and white or blue and white, a master list of 70 conversion vins ( which weren't many and through guesswork alone there's a ballpark accounting for what they are and the vin grouping they would be and the build dates for them ), and the '69 vins? Hmmm, all the vins...then....that...would.....mean... they'd
know all the cars and their original dealer affiliation! Problem is some of these cars were secured at one dealer and then transferred to another or people would travel and pick a car up from a dealer that had stepped up to the plate. Then the cars took on the name and affiliation of the gaining dealer, not the losing one. Which is why there are discrepancies existing that further investigation has shown what the ultimate trail is the car followed. Yet, on the internet these associations aren't evident.... hmmm. That means that either the information is not known to the "guardians of the word" or they are seriously behind in their connective updates, or they do know but don't want anyone else to.
Usually when there is crucial documentary evidence, i.e., company memos, build sheets, vin reassignments, homologation notifications- there exists the original documents and then the copies. Rarely does the holder of the originals just give them up. So if copies are obtained either through sanction and permission, or by other means- there exists more than one party in knowledge of the information. For the Provahder(s) ( pronounced the same way that President Bush did when he proclaimed himself to be the...." Deecahder ") to continue to be mum when subsequent seekers come along as though there was a tacit agreement between the Provahder(s) and the "Original Crusaders" is a tough sell after forty years of bs and contradiction. If the "Original Crusaders" ( hereafter referred to as " The Ha Ha, We Got There First Gang") somehow got information on the sly, nonetheless, the source still exists. In other words if they have information, that others don't, and it is legitimate information then a legitimate source also exists. And there is no reason that stands up to scrutiny that would justify an agreement that would result in casting more doubt, putting out more disinformation and obscuring the path to helpful resources for restoration endeavors, and finally, a greater shortness of ultimate credibility in the auto world than what the situation currently provides– whatever the underlying truth is.
I sure don't believe that there are those out there running that have the complete picture. They may have pieces of the jigsaw and maybe they've played a cat and mouse game for years with the list of cars put out there while not saying anything when others have offered up alternatives. Maybe they do know all...
However, the argument that it would be too easy to clone these cars if the complete picture was certain rather than an educated guess of the present is specious at best. The ignorance that currently exists makes it easier to cash in on benefit of the doubt it's a legitimate Hurst SS because enough shadowy "facts" or outright lack of knowledge causes some people to go up blind alleys thinking they have the real deal.
If the "lucky few" got the information why when others have stepped up to the plate economically didn't they provide them the information? In any case it's excuses like that about the cloning or the suggestion that there is a "Trilateral Commission" with the secret knowledge ( and the equivalent secret handshake or displaying their unbendable pinkies– the identifier of the aliens in the sixties Quinn Martin series–
The Invaders ) that motivated me the most to find the answers. That crap don't hold any sway. In fact, it's the juice to keep on digging. Not that I believe the "Knowledge Holders" really have the whole enchilada. Just the notion that one should play ball or should accept the status quo, alone, is the spur onward. Tell them boys hi for us, we're comin'.
Steve