Yes, I realize I'm quoting myself, ... but maybe I can help us get back to the subject at hand, or at least my take on it.
Let's forget about the adjectives like "real", "genuine", "original", "component", , "continuation", "completion", "replica", etc.
Shelby American sells a car today that they are legally entitled to call a "Shelby Cobra". It is similar to the cars they sold in the 1960s, but it is a brand new car. They have raised the price on the aluminum version of that car and continue to do so.
My thought is perhaps they might some day price themselves out of the market. And maybe that some day is now?
When comparing a brand new aluminum "Shelby Cobra" to a brand new aluminum competitor's car, like a Kirkham. There are certainly things to consider, since both are different in a number of ways:
- Components: more original style suspension versus light weight billet suspension, gauges, head light trim rings, side pipes, etc.
- Paint: painted versus non-painted
- Option Cost: cost of stripes, cost of polished finish, etc.
- Brand Name: "Shelby" brand name and serial number versus not a Shelby
- Customer Service
Although the Kirkham is in the SAAC registry, at some point I got the impression it is more there to keep track a car that can easily be confused with a modern day (or even an original) Shelby Cobra, then for it to be there to acknowledge it as a legitimate Cobra. So even though Kirkhams are in the registry, that does not really do much for me.
Now I don't have a bunch of money burning a hole in my pocket to buy either a current generation Shelby Cobra or a Kirkham, but if I did have the money, I suppose there would be a certain premium price that I would consider paying extra for a completed running Shelby Cobra over a similarly equipped completed running Kirkham (painted with original style suspension). But if we are talking $200k versus $100k for completed running cars, I think the 100% premium markup for the Shelby is not worth it to me personally.
Now Evan got into the game with his car years ago when the markup was not as big. Evan what would you do today? Would you still buy the Shelby Cobra today over an identical Kirkham just for the Shelby brand name and CSX serial number considering today's price difference?
At some price point, Shelby could price themselves out of the market. Just consider the extreme case, they could raise the price of a brand new Shelby Cobra to more than the going price of a 1960's Shelby Cobra. At that point, you might as well just buy an original. It would be just as expensive to insure and worry about crashing.
And after all didn't Shelby price themselves out of the market before with the "completion" series at $500k? The answer to that was to start the "continuation" series. I suppose if they price themselves out of the market again, they just have to come up with a new series name at a lower price point. Hmm, I wonder what they would call it, maybe "perpetuation" series?
