Clone Hostility

I'm with Adam. It pisses off the collectors :finga:. And its funny, because I really don't think having a bunch of clones out there devalues the real thing. If anything, I think it probably ADDS to the value as long as you can prove you've got the "real deal". I mean, you see all these nice "SS" chevy's around, you want an SS. Even if 90% of the cars you see driving around aren't real SS's. Same with the R/T's, TA's, etc. You see those stripes,or that scoop, you want one of those. Nevermind that half those cars are /6 or 318 auto's with R/T stickers or repro hoods.

I'd rather have a clone anyway. I like to DRIVE my cars, I don't buy them as investments- I buy them as cars. So its better to have something that isn't numbers matching and factory original. I don't have to worry about de-valuing the car by driving it, or changing things from original to make it perform better, or wrecking a 1 of whatever car because I was using it as a daily.

As long as you pass it off as what it is, who cares. The collectors will be pissed because you paid half as much (or less!) than they did and even they can't tell the difference when they actually drive the car, if anything the clone will probably outperform the original because you can actually change/improve things from original.

And if you buy a clone thinking its real, well, you should have done your homework. Especially with Mopars, since the VIN will tell you most of what you need to know, and the fender tag or buildsheet will tell you the rest. And if it doesn't have a tag or sheet, well, don't pay the big money for it, 'cause you can't prove it. :D