A Guilty Moment

[allan horsfall]

Gentlemen,

Last Tuesday it was a nice day, so I took advantage of it to use the Cobra to go to an appointment I had. I was sitting in the waiting room looking out of the window in sight of the car, when someone else came in and sat next to me. After about 10 mins he said "I cant make up my mind if thats an AC Ace or a Cobra out there", I looked up and said "its a Cobra, the Ace doesnt have the eyebrows over the wheel arches". After a pause he said " There are lots of copies around, its nice to see an original one ". I said "Yes it must be" and left it at that.
Now, I didnt claim ownership or take credit for it, but neither to be fare did I admit it was a copy? I confess, it was very childish, but a welcome endorsement of one's work and effort.

Allan

[nikbj68]

Not a false word crossed your lips, sir.
No foul.

[289 Baz]

Here, here, you only answered the question's asked.

Barry

[Old Boy Racer]

A decent nod to your taste and expertise I'd say Allan without you in any way trying to seriously deceive anybody. I'm sure all the owners of original 60's 289s (assuming they haven't been crashed and treated to new chassis and bodies from Gerry ) must get weary of explaining to people that they aren't replicas. Next time somebody asks if it's a real one, just say - "no, it's made of cardboard". As an aside, an interesting piece by Robert Coucher in the latest issue of Octane acknowledging the gradual acceptance of decent replicas. He attributes that to the FIA HTP papers process. At a more mundane level, I reckon the IVA/SIVA requirements have removed from the equation most of those vehicles whose poor build standard tarred everybody with the same brush. It may have been a pain in the bum, but in retrospect it has proven to be a very positive thing imo.

Cheers

Robin

[StewbieC]

Had my moments too, a guy stood behind me at a petrol station and said " I know my cars, not often you see a real one as apposed to those awful kit cars!" I just smiled at him.

[Marsh]

I had the same thing happen to me at this year's Goodwood Revival.

A gentleman walked quietly round my car and finally came over to me and said 'its so lovely to see a Cobra being used, rather than as a show queen'. I proceeded to tell him that the car wasn't quite as old as it looked and he said, 'look, I've been coming here since I was a young boy, I know my Cobra's, so I know when I'm looking at the real deal'.

Perhaps he should have gone to Specsavers, but it made me smile nonetheless.

Lee

[Dave Woodward]

Next time anybody asks you if its real, you can quite legitimately say yes.

It is a real car.