rumor control--has SAAC lost its use of Shelby name?

[A-Snake]

The following was posted by Rick Kopec on the SAAC Forum in response to someone asking a question about personal information given to SAAC over the years.



"Personal information given to SAAC for the registry will not be shared with anyone else. Period. Some of it is considered "public" (what will get into the registry and, hence, be available to anyone who purchases a book). The rest is "private" (address, phone numbers, email addresses, Ford serial numbers and other info the owner has asked the registrar to keep confidential). Despite any legal claims from anyone outside the club, there are confidentiality issues and First Amendment issues. Don't worry about this.

If you want something to worry about, worry about SAAC losing this battle. In simplest terms it would mean someone else would control the registry. Someone who would have a financial interest in which cars were deemed "legitimate" or "original." SAAC itself has no financial interest in the value of anyone's car. We were keeping track of these cars when Cobras were selling for $5,000 and Shelbys were selling for $1,500. It doesn't matter to the club or the registrars that Cobras are now worth $500,000 and Shelbys are worth $200,000. All it means is more zeros in the footnotes. If "continuation cars" could be built by anyone paying for a serial number, the desirability and value of these continuation cars would not rise to the current level of the originals. On the contrary, the desirability and value of the originals would sink to the level of the look-alike and clone car.

This is not a battle between Shelby and SAAC. It is a battle between Shelby and every member of SAAC— current owners as well as future owners. One-on-one, none of us would stand a chance. But if we band together and stay together we will win. The saying "there is strength in numbers" was never more true."

Rick Kopec
SAAC Nat'l Director