Well, I'm the dufus that mentioned the "secret serial number" to Allen. I sure did not intend that, by so doing, I'd screw up any potential deal between them. I feel very badly about this. As far as I'm concerned. the GT in question is an authentic car, because it has been rebuilt with CORRECT parts, if not necessarily all of its ORIGINAL parts. And we all know that, when it comes to judging, "original" doesn't get you squat. It's got to be both authentic AND in ++showroom condition to score a trophy.
If the Jet Thrust registry accepts this car as genuine, then that's jake with me.
Just for sh*ts and grins, I just did a Dopgpile search for "studebaker serial number". Here's hit no. 11, on the first page:
"Studebaker Drivers Club - Secret serial number location. ... All Forums. Your Studebaker Forum. Technical Talk. Secret serial number location. New Topic Reply to Topic ... this practice went) had their serial number stamped into a frame cross-mem...
If I can pull it up with a few keystrokes, that means any customs or DMV flunky can do the same. And I KNOW that Canada Customs have Internet-connected computers right on the counter. When I returned to Canada last April with a '64 Daytona bought on eBay, the Customs agent questioned the declared value. I used his terminal to log into my eBay page and showed him the completed auction. End of problem. In THAT instance.
I just tried, via e-mail to indicate to Allen, that the "secret serial number" could POTENTIALLY be a source of grief at the border or DMV, given the bureaucratic mindset. No way did I try to imply that the car was less than authentic because an obscure stamping, basically used by the factory for its own purposes, was either not present or in conflict with the data plate. I suggested merely that Allen should get his ducks in a row with respect to this issue. That could be accomplished by obliterating any SSN not in agreement with the serial plate, or by changing it to agree (risky, IMHO, because of said bureaucratic mindset), or by simply documenting the frame swap. The last solution is undoubtedly the best.
You have to remember that this is primarily an issue affecting vehicles sold across the border. For a Canadian buying as U.S. car, there are THREE hoops to jump through:
- clear it out of the USA, basically to ensure it's not on a hot car list
- get it through Canada Customs
- get it legally registered with the provincial DMV.
At any one of these steps, if the bureacrat involved THINKS there is anything fishy about the serial numbers, you're going to have grief. The car could be seized, or worse.
The whole intent of my e-mail to Allen was to warn him about potential pitfalls with the bureaucratic process, and how to take steps to ensure their avoidance. I certainly did not intend to warn him away from buying that particular car, or from dealing with JP in general. Quite the contrary, in fact.
This is not the outcome I wanted to see. I would have liked to see Al buy the car from JP, because I'm sure Al would get a sweetheart of a car at good price.
I guess I should have said nothing, eh? Suppose I had. Al buys the car from JP, ships it home, and gets into some interminable hassle because some dillweed DMV inspector finds a contrary number on the frame? Could wind up sowing a lot of hate and discontent between two folks I like and respect. In the interest of preventing that, I said what I said.
Sometimes you just can't win for losing. In any case, I tender my apologies to both Allen Anderson and to John Poulos for all the distress this has caused. That's not what I wanted to happen.
Gord Richmond (feeling like the bull in the china shop, now)