Can anyone go to the SAAC registry and check on anything themselves or do you have to be a member to access it?
Terry

The Registry is not online. The current issue was published last year. Here is the link to purchase it.

http://www.saac.com/index.php?page=s...hk=1&Itemid=45

The SAAC Registry is a comprehensive grouping of information, maintained by a team of Registrars for each class of car.

The SAAC Registrars can be contacted for specific information on a car or a detail; SAAC members are given preference. There is no Registry information online.

The information is published in a hard-cover book about every 10 years or so.

The latest Cobra / GT40 book has recently been published

http://www.saac.com/components/com_v...4944ac79e2.jpg

It can be ordered HERE

The next volume to be published will be the early Shelby Mustangs; it is due out next year.

Thanx, Jim ;)

Terry, the book is an interesting read..... BUT, if anyone is seriously thinking of buying the real deal, they should hire one of the Registrars as a consultant and fly them out to view, assess, and/or bid on the car with them.:cool: Actually, it's getting to the point where most people need a consultant to just buy a replica.

I think Evan is the Registrar and is available for consulting. :LOL:

Hardly. But I was thinking to myself, as I watched those 350s go for what seemed to be a reasonable price, that, if I were inclined to go after one of them, Ron would get an expense paid trip to Vegas along with a couple grand on top for his trouble before I made a bid.:cool:

The idea of having a car inspected by an expert before its purchase is clearly a sensible one, and I have gladly been doing inspections for many years. But these days, being in the position of an "expert inspector" has its own set of risks, which have been spelled out graphically in the latest issue of Keith Martin's "Sports Car Market" magazine. In his article, Ferrari expert Michael Sheehan details the pitfalls of inspecting a car which then proceeded to pass through several owners and many miles with no problems or complaints, prior to it being sold back to the purchaser for whom he had performed the inspection many years before. When this individual was advised that the engine block showed a small weld on the side of the block, possibly indicating a thrown rod many years prior to his initial purchase, he decided that everyone connected in any way to its ownership, from Sheehan to the shop that rebuilt the engine to interim owners, owed him some big bucks, and in an amount way in excess of the supposed damages (if any) to the owner. Sheehan has already been made to fork over thousands of dollars, since he was careless enough to miss a one-inch patch of metal on the lower side of a greasy engine block. It's this kind of nonsense that makes anyone trying to help people buy a good car rather than a P.O.S. think twice about the service they are attempting to provide. And that is truly a shame for the collector car hobby in general.

The last sentence in this article sums it up nicely. http://www.sportscarmarket.com/Sheeh.../2009/October/

I really enjoy reading this magazine each month. Each month they feature some sort of interesting legal situation in their section "Legal Files." However, if you read the mag regularly you would think all lawsuits are somehow related to Ferrari's. I wonder why? :LOL:

Actually, some articles detail shipping disputes, tax matters, etc., but legal matters pertaining to Ferraris seem to come up often.

When it comes to lawsuits, Ferrari people are the worst, Porsche second, and you don't hear too much about Cobra replica suits (I mean by buyers, not that trademark stuff:rolleyes:). I'd be interested to hear if the Kirkhams, ERA, or some of the other manufacturers view that as a problem.

EDIT -- It's probably because we spend a big chunk of dough on them and then expect them to break down.:LOL:

EDIT -- It's probably because we spend a big chunk of dough on them and then expect them to break down.:LOL:[/quote]

Realistic about them breaking down would be a better way of putting it:D