Robin,
In answer to your request for any proposals regarding Club and Register policies I wonder if I might turn the clock back some three decades and rehearse an argument that became quite heated at the time. The trigger for the disagreement was the Cobra Register and how it was being used by the 'less than scrupulous' to aid the passing off of Cobras which had questionable antecedents. It quickly became clear that in fact many quite genuine cars had convoluted histories and The Registrar had to somehow adjudicate between an out and out forgery at one end of the spectrum and a car which had been damaged and repaired so often that it could be described as Paddy's Axe - three new handles and two new heads, but still Paddy's Axe - at the other end of the spectrum.
You can imagine that all of the arguments seen in this thread were aired at the time. There was, as in this case, more heat than light and, as has now occurred, a good deal of personal upset with members even withdrawing from Club activities. Given that, I suppose, we are an inclusive organisation able to welcome a very broad selection of Members it follows that this kind of exclusion is the very last thing we should be doing, or encouraging, in any way.
When this discussion took place all those years ago it resolved into two basic positions: One that The Club should be the custodian of all the facts which could be ascertained and therefrom The Registrars would make a determination on a car's provenance. Or, alternately, The Club should confine Registrars to ascertaining and recording all the facts.
I was a supporter of this latter position believing a) that The Club should never expose itself to court action and b) the value of a car historically and financially was up to every individual's judgement and c) acting as judge and jury would inevitably and repeatedly engender upset and ill feeling between members.
In this debate I found myself in the minority and ever since The Club, via The Registrars, has adopted a judgemental policy. This thread amply illustrates the disadvantages of such an approach. As in many other cases (thank you Robin for your painstaking and scholarly research) both these cars have an interesting and legitimate history - which one would you like to own? Your choice. How much would you pay? Your choice. I should be delighted to own and use either. As an A.C.O.C. member I should welcome either at any Club event.
As the years pass and prices increase we see the same potential for acrimony spreading to The Ace and The Aceca Registers and maybe as far as the 16/80 and 16/90. Time, I feel, for our Council of Management to review this issue once more. I would once again suggest that we keep to The History and let The Individual, not The Registrar, do the choosing.
