Judge my pad

[Chuck S.]

Re: Judge my pad

Hmmmm...Private Collection, huh?...Well, I suppose justice WAS meted out to all who participated. It may take a time, however, for some to figure out they've received their just deserts.

[Chuck S.]

Re: Judge my pad

Of course that's true, and there is nothing wrong with the owner doing whatever he wants to do with his own car.

A perfect example is adding power steering to C2s and C3s to make the car more pleasant to drive around town. Primarily, this is done for the owners convenience. It may add SOME value, but typically it is not rewarding enough to commit fraud. It is also a change that should be fully disclosed when the car is sold, and it is also easily reversed...the next owner, however, will very likely leave it installed, or wish he had.

It's only when you get individuals and restoration shops doing such changes to leverage a cheaper car into a very valuable car that it becomes unconscionable. In the case of the factory air LT1, you could only get factory air for four months out of three years production, and then it was discontinued. It's the same old limited numbers, inverted-biplane-on-a-stamp mentality...it took on a kind of cult following in the early nineties ($$$$$).

[Chris Patrick]

Re: Judge my pad

It only became fraud when the cars ceased to be cars and turned into rare collectible items for investment.

People used to build Sting Rays with 396s, Sting Rays with LT1s, dropped 427s and 454s in a lot of cars. And they sold them that way. But they were worth more sometimes because they were a fast car that went faster, not because they were some rare production piece that were only 1 of 25 or something.

How many cars had an F41 put on them? Probably everyone who knew what it was and wanted to go faster did. Are they frauds? No, they are really doing what Chevrolet had provided for - a basic car that had all the go-fast pieces available - either by order or over the counter - so they could go race them.

Building some of these cars today is fraud, because the intent of the builder is to make something appear to be real that isn't in order to get more money.

In many ways, people are reaping exactly what they have sewn. They wanted them to be investments so they gained in money, and now people are creating those investments, by hook or crook.

[Dale S.]

Re: Judge my pad

This Mr. Schmidt is a lionel train collector. I met him at York Pa. last spring. If I remember right his first name was George. Nice man. small world. Dale