As far as the UK DVLA is concerned the car will considered genuine. That's it. End of. It wll be welcomed at SAOC meetings I am sure. GlennB
The car should be warmly welcomed at SAOC events, its a fantastic replica of the car that raced at sebring in 62/63. With all due respect the car is also in much better condition now than when it was in the states and much work has been done to bring it inline with the car that raced at Sebring, many of the details have been recreated and indeed sorted to make it more a accurate replica and rectify the difference between the later body used in the recreation as opposed to the early alpine body of the original car. The lineage was broken when the original body was scrapped, if you have seen the restoration photos there is conclusive proof that the car was based on later SII alpine during its reconstruction. there were also several tell tales sited in 2012 that demonstrated the rebody in 2012 which were carefully removed and corrected when it went to the UK. There are still a couple of key points that undermine its lineage, i wont discuss that openly this time as no point assisting anymore deception.
It is a shame the original rusty body was not saved, that way someone could resurrect it if they had the inclination.. again as per the discussion a few years ago when it was first for sale.. look at the extent steve alcala went to to save the original body of the factory rootes Sebring SII racer (much credit to him).
As for the DLVA... they do not look kindly on switching VIN's on cars and there are several very prominent examples of cars coming undone for VIN switching. The "works" tiger with correct VIN and green book having its registration revoked when it was discovered that that's all it had is a good example.
As for bobs reference to organ transplants, if anything that proves the point.. switching a few arts across doesn't make it "the car". If bob got Michael Jordan's heart and liver it doesn't mean he suddenly won the NBA MVP or can use jordans drivers license or social security number.. hes just an old white guy with a famous athletes organs.
The car in question is a great looking very well prepared car, it contains some parts of the original sebring racer... but having the roof and a few small parts that crossed the line back in 62/63 doesn't make it that car... embrace it for what it is.. admire the effort that has gone into it to correct many of the details of the car to make it even closer to the 63 car... enjoy it at shows and belting around the track, but be open to what it is.
If anyone want to pony up the rumored GBP100K being asked.. consider what you are getting... are you buying it because its an awesome looking fun car... or are you paying so much for a history that vanished.
ill leave it at that....