Received from Steve Hamilton on January 30, 2016
"My thoughts,

I have been a fanatic for originality. And while there have been situations where the factory did things like changing chassis, then if it is in the service records I would accept that along the lines of the input from Clare Hay. However that is a far cry from the bitsa Bentleys that are out there. So many original bodies changed for a LeMans rep body is really disgusting, but not if the original body is kept. I have an original and matching numbers Speed Six and I now have its original body to replace the Lemans Rep body that was recently put on to it. I do not believe in an 'anything goes' mentality. We are all keepers of history and we should not be playing with 'what it is we would like to own' versus 'the history of a wonderful old motorcar'."

Received from Roy Cousins on January 30, 2016
Robert,

Many vintage Bentleys have been raced at some stage in their lives, so it is not surprising that many parts have been repaired/upgraded/replaced. In modern racing, it is common practice between races to replace every component that can be replaced within the rules of competition.

The problem seems to be that many historic old cars now attract such a premium value that unscrupulous individuals find it very attractive to "enhance" that value by "misrepresenting" what it really is. There was a very recent case in the USA of a supposedly very valuable Jaguar D-type entered in an auction as a genuine factory car, until its provenance was disputed, as the original car was destroyed by the factory, causing it to be withdrawn from sale.

The UK vehicle licensing authority (DVLA) is currently undertaking various investigations into vintage Bugattis: so many parts have been replaced and reused on these cars, that it is very difficult to establish any form of originality. A matching numbers Bugatti is extremely rare. Some cars had their major components divided to produce two or more vehicles. Plus the fact that Pur Sang in Argentina can now produce a brand new "vintage" Bugatti (or parts) for a customer.

This is also now causing problems for owners of genuine vintage cars in the UK, as they fear that replacement of major parts (body, etc.) due to wear-and-tear, rot or other failure may cause their cars to be classed as replicas. Discussions between the relevant clubs and the authorities are ongoing.

Yes, "matching numbers" is a fad and a continuous history is more important, but, in many cases, both these factors are not impossible to misrepresent.