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NY Times Article


CudaFly

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Not an SGT topic but interesting article on the replicas of the 1967 Shelby GT500E. Great looking car but high prices and some bad business deals ruined them.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/automobi...r=1&oref=slogin

 

A Cloud Over Reborn Shelby Mustangs

After a police raid, production of the Shelby GT500E has ceased.

 

By ROB SASS

Published: November 25, 2007

 

FIVE years ago, amid a sharp rise in prices of vintage muscle cars, Carroll Shelby licensed his name to a Texas company to construct replicas of the 1967 Shelby GT500E used in the 2000 remake of the drive-in classic “Gone in 60 Seconds.”

 

Mr. Shelby, the racing legend who had built Shelby Mustangs and the Cobra sports car in the 1960s, correctly perceived an eager market for the movie car, known as Eleanor. The cars were to be built by Unique Performance in Farmers Branch, a Dallas suburb.

 

But this month, after a public dispute between Mr. Shelby and Unique Peformance, and following lawsuits against Unique from customers who say they put down large deposits but never received their cars, the story took a new twist. Farmers Branch police and Texas state officials raided Unique and seized 61 cars in varying states of completion at five sites.

 

Restored and modernized cars like the Eleanor replicas have become known in the collector car industry as resto-mods, and they are intended to combine the best of old and new.

 

Original ’60s-era muscle cars, while fierce in a straight line, were often not pleasant to drive. Most had slippery and uncomfortable vinyl seats, vague steering and dubious handling, their tires squealing at the first suggestion of a kink in the road. And, oddly for cars with such performance, they usually came with ineffective brakes that faded away after hard use.

 

Resto-mods generally combine original frames and body shells with modern brakes, suspensions and tires, along with upgraded powertrains and better interiors to address the shortcomings of the original cars.

 

But when old cars become so heavily altered in the process of becoming resto-mods, issues involving titles and serial numbers can become cloudy.

 

In a telephone interview, Cpl. Chad Taylor of the Farmers Branch police department said Unique’s cars were seized because authorities had learned that the company might have altered the V.I.N., or vehicle identification numbers. He said the matter had been referred to the Dallas County prosecutor, but as of Wednesday no charges had been filed.

 

Authorities had also suggested that Unique engaged in a practice known as “title washing,” in which salvage titles are cleansed of salvage status by

 

retitling the cars in another state. Customers might be unaware that the donor car for their GT500 Eleanor had been declared a total loss previously.

 

Both Mr. Shelby and Chip Foose, the prominent custom car designer who had also licensed Unique to build cars from his designs, have severed their ties with Unique Performance.

 

Attempts to reach Unique Performance executives for comment were unsuccessful last week. The company’s phone number has been disconnected and its Web site is no longer operating.

 

Fans of unaltered original muscle cars like Colin Comer, a Milwaukee dealer and collector who wrote “Million Dollar Muscle Cars” (Motorbooks, 2007) said he thought that those who paid $200,000 and more for resto-mods like the Shelby GT500E would probably never recoup their investments, especially with a cloud over Unique.

 

Unlike original muscle cars, most resto-mods have no pedigree or provenance. Indeed, they may have started out as a run-of-the-mill 6-cylinder car before being altered to look like a rare high-performance model. So resto-mods may share more with today’s cars than just modern mechanicals. They may depreciate like them as well.

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Wow I was wondering when this VIN issue would come to light. There are many different resto-mod "manufacturers" who are moving VIN numbers (which is a crime in many states and may be a federal crime.)

These "air cars" have been hurting legitimate cars for years and somehow things need to be defined so people don't get hurt! There is HUGE gray area when it comes to restoring cars and avoiding new laws by using old VIN numbers. It is ultimately in the name of greed and Barrett Jackson profits... They are bascially making a new car and slapping on a VIN from a past era. Who is next? Year one? This could just be the tip of the iceberg. I wonder if the US govt. is interested enough in this issue or will it go by unnotiiced?

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Don't forget the article I found in Autoweek about a month ago that spelled impending doom for Unique performance,Hopefully none of you folks had a car at their place!

 

Met a guy at a show last August who has a GT500E, built by Unique Performance, 175K. Personally I wasn't that impressed. If I'm spending that kind of money, I want the real deal. The owner of the car was a little on the arrogant side, but that's OK. So last week reading in some local forums turns out his GT500E is in Texas for warranty work :o ! Yep, you guessed it they took his car. Car was totally paid for a couple of years ago, they still took it. It doesn't sound good. I think I would be going psycho! and asking you Texas boys what kind of fire power you got. I wasn't fond of the guy, but nobody deserves this. Reminds me of the Enron debacle. It just doesn't seem fair that a company can steal peoples money like this.

Dave

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Met a guy at a show last August who has a GT500E, built by Unique Performance, 175K. Personally I wasn't that impressed. If I'm spending that kind of money, I want the real deal. The owner of the car was a little on the arrogant side, but that's OK. So last week reading in some local forums turns out his GT500E is in Texas for warranty work :o ! Yep, you guessed it they took his car. Car was totally paid for a couple of years ago, they still took it. It doesn't sound good. I think I would be going psycho! and asking you Texas boys what kind of fire power you got. I wasn't fond of the guy, but nobody deserves this. Reminds me of the Enron debacle. It just doesn't seem fair that a company can steal peoples money like this.

Dave

 

 

I wonder if the police will account for any extra miles on the odometer? ;)

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Amazing what the press can do given a little time, 20 days, to come up with a good story. This is old news and has nothing to do with Shelby other than the press trying to make a connection more than it is for a better story than it would have been otherwise.

 

Check it out:

 

 

Too funny :D .....Not really,but the white w/red stripe car that they show in the clip is the car I was talking about. It sounds like this is going to be a long drawn out court deal. But in the end these cars are going to be worthless. I guess this is one of those buyer beware.

Dave

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Even though it takes big boy money to play in a game where the car ends up costing $175k,I feel bad for those who were fleeced by these folks.Nobody deserves to be treated like that.As far as VIN# tampering,That for sure is a federal offense,But for those of you new to the old car game,This sort of thing has been happening for a long time.There are numerous cars out there that were 6cyl granny cars and are currently equipped and now have the vin#tags of rarer cars that were rust buckets or beyond repair.When you play in that game(vintage cars),You really need to know what you are looking at.

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