Best response to, "Is that an original?"

[lnfletcher]

At least the ones that ask know what kind of car it is! I have no problem telling them it is a "replica" but I do try to shy away from telling them it is a "kit" car. To a lot of people "including myself" the term "kit car" brings to mind the rebodied VW bugs of the 70's. These are no kit car by that definition!
If you mean that you take parts from various vendors and build your own, then the originals were "kit cars". Carrol didn't make the bodies, just modified them. He didn't produce the engines, just modified them.
These are modern reproduced replicas, even if they come in some form of "kit" packaging. I am always proud to tell them that I built it myself, every nut and bolt of it. It may not be worth what many are but I am having a blast driving mine and showing it off to all that snap their necks around as I pass them by! None of us should be offended by someone asking about our cars. I don't get that attention from any of my other classic cars I own or have owned in the past. My neighbor just dropped 60K for a new LS1 Camero, and he has been bugging me to "trade" cars for a drive to compare. I know his is fast and fun to drive, but it is not a Cobra and he knows it. Mine has manual steering, brakes, no A/C traction control top or side windows, but I would rather drive mine than his anyday!
So, go ahead and ask, I'ts a replica of the most beautiful car every made in my opinion, and I built it myself!