There was, after all, nothing to differentiate between those components until someone drew them arbitrarily from the stores and punched on some numbers. At that point they acquired individual identities but their design and function remained identical. Individual cars of particular historical importance are a different matter, but how many of those have survived unaltered? I am not, however, suggesting that we should all embark on a wholesale "mix and match" with our cars!
Now, this is where it all becomes especially contentious. Those of you who read my previous article will note that the steering box and front axle on YV 9608 are both stamped with the chassis number HF3185. David Chapman tells me, and he has checked, that these same numbered components are also on chassis KM3089. Until that point I had no reason to doubt the genuineness of the numbering on my car, but on close examination, it appears that someone has carefully filed out the original numbering and re-stamped these items as HF3185. Now why would this unknown person, who in all probability was, and perhaps still is, a BDC member, have done such a thing? Was it merely to make the car look aesthetically correct, or is there a remote possibility that it was an attempt to enhance the car’s resale value? Either way it is fraud and, whoever did it, it reflects on all subsequent owners and/or dealers. One wonders how many other cars have been similarly enhanced. However, whatever the morality, palatable or not, it is still POTHOTC (part of the history of the car), and in this case some of it is getting quite colourful!
I am now confronted with an ethical problem and, as I see it, the options are these: 1. To deface the false numbers but leave them in situ. 2. To erase the false numbering by removing even more metal. 3. To leave things as they are and record the facts.
Unless persuaded otherwise, I am opting for number 3.
YV 9608 has had its ups and downs, firstly endowed with the dark green Mulliner "all weather" body, then stripped to a bare chassis, abandoned, and later reconstructed as a "Le Mans replica". Not many of the numbers match and those that do seem to be fake, but I applaud Tom Padden who, sometime between 1950 and 1976, acquired the chassis and collected the necessary components to re-construct a complete car. Seventy one years after leaving Cricklewood, and after having survived that "out of body" experience, YV 9608, or more accurately, chassis HF3185, is still being driven, enjoyed and is much admired. Surely it is better to have a living, breathing, beast, albeit without matching numbers, than a disparate collection of rusting components awaiting the scrap man’s coming.
Finally, in his letter to me, David Chapman said that he had ‘desecrated’ the car when he scrapped the Mulliner body and transferred the running gear to another chassis. I think that he is being harsh on himself. Certainly if that was done today, the expression would be appropriate, but within the context of the time, he did nothing unusual. Special building was a part of motoring culture, and if you wanted to go motor racing, you built a Special from whatever was available to you. The pendulum swings, and nowadays, we are more inclined to try and replicate the lost original. There is, however, a fine dividing line between recreating and faking, and that line should never be crossed.  |
