[OnyxRider]

My experience goes across many makes, I would say Bugatti and Ferrari at one time I could say I have advanced knowledge of but there's always someone that informs you of new intel. I didn't go much into the gaps because others know more about those than I. I just know about the gaps I tried to mend back in the early '80's and gave up. As noted it's the owners responsibility.....

You may laugh at photo documentation but it does comes in handy. A friend of mine runs a movie and television memorabilia company and they use actual photos pulled from movies and television shows to make sure props, outfits, costumes are actually the screen shown pieces. This kind of evidence can be used with automobiles along with other supporting material. I've seen vehicles traced back with photos that had small nicks and blemishes.
Of course this is in simple terms.

In the early evolution of the automobile people that could afford the high end product would order a car and get the coach built. In a few years the coachwork would be updated with a new body, and the mechanicals remained the same. If you ever came across coachwork that has been taken off the chassis it can be hard to discover the history.

As far as the Cobra registry there still can be room for improvement. I'm going to have to photocopy the latest one or order another and make notes on a long flight. I didn't think anyone would comment on the registry and original parts aspect of this cause they don't want to give up intel and have someone use whatever they say in the future to back up a claim.

I do like the Frankenstein image of an automobile being put together from original parts and breathing life into it. I mean restorers do it all the time.