Clones, was: <VV> A/C Corsas

[airvair]

Sorry Bill, I have to agree with Craig. I hope to God we NEVER get so
anal as to become "numbers" obsessed, like a lot of Corvette people are.
Like Craig said, it would suck the fun out of the hobby. Besides, as he
points out, there ARE legitimate dealer-installed kit accessory cars out
there, as well as rescued a/c systems. While "factory-installed" is
often a good indicator as to having all the parts, it's no guarantee.
Nor is it any guarantee that it'll operate as intended.

As far as clones (or as you guys put it "tribute" cars) goes, again, who
cares? Traditionally, in the Corvair hobby, few if anyone ever pays
attention to things such as body codes, window dates, and
"factory-installed" accessories. Remember that we are lucky to be able
to even document half the accessories via body codes, and we can only
approximate such things as window dates. Besides, we're not dealing with
high-buck 'vettes, muscle cars, etc. Most Corvair owners are just happy
to have a nicely equipped car to drive and enjoy, and don't wish for
Corvair values to go into the stratosphere. That's a double-edged sword
you're playing with, Bill. Watch out who you cut with it.

If there are those, like yourself, who WANT to be numbers-matching, have
at it. But while I think it's all nice and desirable, I'm not one of
them as to put too much stock in it all. And most of the Corvair world
feels the same (and I hope always will.)

-Mark

P.S. BTW, did you know that the rear (plastic) window in convertables is
also date coded? What are your thoughts on THAT needing to be correct?

Bill Elliott wrote:
> 
> >
> >Craig opines:
> >Don't forget that GM sold dealer kits that installed factory air parts too. Do those conversions have no value? Does a "rescued" A/C system carfully installed have no value? While decoding body tags is very informative and fun, I strongly object to the total dismissal of a car that doesn't have the dammed "E" on the body tag.  It's still what it is; an A/C Corsa convertible. Maybe it doesn't have 100% authenticity, but it still has very high value and serves to preserve the marque.  In the muscle car scene (think BB Camaros and the like) "Tribute" cars bring very high prices too because buyers respect the difficulty of assembling all the right pieces in the original way - the car DOES have high value even if it is a "made up" car.  I'm also involved in the NCRS ('65 FI) and maintain a registry of them. There's a huge (as in tidal) negative reaction to "numbers" and all the associated fakery. Many, if not most of the "numbers matching" cars don't really have the original c!
 ompo
> > nents - there are just vendors out there that have made a business of making items with numbers or renumbering stuff, and others charge to "authenticate" them.  In the Corvette hobby (which started all this stuff) folks have discovered that worrying about numbers has SUCKED THE FUN OUT of the Corvette hobby.  Please don't take Corvairs down this bridgeless road to...
> >Craig Nicol
> >________________________________________________________________________
> >
> >
> >
> Of course a Corsa vert with AC added is worth more than an otherwise
> identical Corsa vert without it, but the rarity and really high value
> DOES come from the numbers. The person that's willing to pay the extreme
> dollars for a certain car is going to be educated enough to know what to
> look for... and why would you expect them to pay something similar for
> something not so rare.
> 
> The only reason those tribute vehicles make so much money is that the
> real thing makes several time more. It's all relative. A completely fake
> (but well done) Ferrari GTO is going to bring more than a concours
> Stinger... but still only a small percentage of a real Ferrari GTO.
> 
> A Stinger "tribute" car carries only a fraction of the value of the real
> thing... This is not an opinion, this is an appraisal of the market. A
> '71 GTO Judge convertible (tribute) carries very little value over a
> non-Judge vert... while the real thing is worth several times either. At
> Carlisle and Hershey, "tribute" Hemi Cudas and Challengers could be had
> for less than $50k... know what a real one is worth?
> 
> While worrying about the numbers may very well suck the fun out of a
> marque, don't forget it's also what sucks the money in.
> 
> Bill