Real California spotted in NY?

Real.

Gut, a bit of deductive logic, a lifetime of obsessing over design details, etc. all suggest it's legit.

I might be wrong but it's a beautiful car nonetheless.

 

The only other possibility I can think of is 3677 GT.

 

Oops, duplicate.

 

The next sentence in my post was this: "In order to make the car in #12 like the car in #1, you would have to rebuild the entire front end."

 

I honestly believe El Wayne was referring to your rather rude reaction (see Post No. 18), to my headlight hypothesis {i.e. maybe you should reread your ill-informed remarks which began with, "Dude, are you kidding (?)"}.

 

Having owned 3195 I see subtle differences in this car. The most obvious is the spyder top above the driver window. There was never that large a canvas piece. Clearly the interior was never piped and the instrument panel is not original
There is also something not right about the rear end look.
As said if its a rebody or replica it isn't a bad job

 

Someone asks "Dude are you kidding?" and you suggest that this is 'rather rude.' Dude is a commonly used term on this board and I cannot recall a single time it was said rudely.

When I get rude you will know it. Opening with "dude" could hardly be called 'rather rude.'

Further you characterize my remarks as "ill informed." Really? Ralph Lauren has one of the most visible and documented collections in the world. Books, magazines and TV shows have been done about it.

If he suddenly took a car that could be worth, say $7 million, and completely reconfigured the front end and changed the color, I would think it would be pretty visibly documented.

I may be wrong, and this may be the genuine article. But I am not ill-informed.

 

The trunk pull opener is actually larger on this car than any other California I have ever seen. On most cars the protrusion is less than the middle 3 letters of Ferrari--on most cars the protrusion is "inside" the "r," the second "r" and the "a." From the rear view, the left edge of the protrusion is between the "e" and "r" in the Ferrari logo, and the right edge is between the "a" and the "r." While a photo is not exact, it just looks off.

Agree on the canvas top. Two fasteners are missing on this car, too.

 

I take no offense at you using the term "Dude" (i.e. after all, I've been a Californian since birth).

It's your rhetorical question of, "(A)re you kidding (?)" which got my attention.

Within the context of your entire Post No. 18, the implication seems to be you weren't cognizant of the fact that returning a covered headlight Spider California (that was born in open headlight configuration) back to its original open headlight configuration, is far more extensive of an undertaking than merely removing the headlight covers!

I would respectfully submit that your seemingly lack of even the most basic of knowledge with respect to the differing headlight location placements within the front fenders (i.e. when comparing the covered vs open headlight configurations), ostensibly constitutes being somewhat ill-informed in this area of discussion, etc.

In fact, if you really want to get technical, the top fender line from the windshield forward has a subtly different slope depending upon whether a given LWB or SWB Spider California was born with open or covered headlights.

Alas, for recollection's sake here's some of what you wrote in Post No. 18:

 

My vote is for replica, although I do agree it is a beautiful car and would be interested if for sale... I do not believe the original had a glove box, the gauges are in English and not Italian, no side view mirror, and the trunk pull is too large. If only you could have popped the hood and had a look underneath her bonnet

 

Please read the very last sentence you have quoted above. It is the 4th sentence of the 3rd paragraph of my post #18. In that, I stated quite clearly that one would "have to rebuild the entire front end" of the car.

Not sure how that could have been more clear.

In fact, it is not a simple task of switching out the front fenders. The front hood slope (excuse me, bonnet slope) changes slightly to accommodate the different shape of the adjacent headlight. The front grill surround has to be modified. Internally, the support mechanisms and the attachment points are slightly modified.

 

My language merely addressed the possibility that RL might've brought his car back to its original open headlight configuration. Whereas your retort seems to somehow imply I was asserting something along the lines that returning a covered headlight Spider California to open headlight configuration would be as simple as removing the headlight covers.

I'll concede that maybe our divergence of opinion is down to some mutual misunderstanding the perceived intent behind each of our respective remarks/comments....

I don't believe the front hood/bonnet slope differs at all between an open and covered headlight Spider California. I think it's just merely a matter of the FENDER TOPS differing in slope. Nor do I believe there's a difference in front grille surround.

Which support mechanisms and attachment points are you referring to? Why do you believe the front grille surround require modification?

 

so many guesses and arguments.
is there really nobody who KNOWS the car?
Seems the car is not a "hidden in a dark garage" one but is used as it should be.

 

4125GT owned by Anil Thadani? Closest SWB I can think of. OP's car still has some differences like the missing mirrors. So probably indeed a replica.

At the Louis Vitton Classics 2002
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Is it one of P. Kalikow's California Spyders? I know that he owns (or has owned) multiple examples in different configurations and lives in the area.....

 

I've seen a few of PK's cars and each one seem to have a vanity license plate with some variation of PK and a number.

It is quite amazing that this hasn't been fully outed by the FChat vintage experts. If it is a replica, it is a very good one IM not so expert O.

 

Beautiful car. Amber side lights are different. Actually the blue on this car looks a little deeper, but that could just be the picture.

The car in the OP is beautiful, and as I have said, I'd love to drive/own it. But like Ashman, if no one can identify this car on F chat, it probably not authentic.

 

I don't know about this cars origins, but the fact that no one has identfied this car so far is very interesting.

If it is original, why don't we know.

If it is a repro, why don't we know? And the fact that someone would do a replica without covered lights is VERY interesting.

I am starting to think this isn't some replica. Maybe original or maybe an original car with a period rebody, but it definitely doesn't seem to be some "COMPLETE" fake

 

Well PK's cars are well known and he would never drive a replica around.

if no one can identify this car on F chat, it probably not authentic.

Pretty much. Makes more sense than just wildly guessing around.

 

One thing people don't seem to realize is that when you build one car every three weeks for a three year period, many things start changing so there will never be a "standard product" like in mass production. SWBs carry far less changes than LWBs, but there are still numerous variations which makes being sure a little tricky. Instrument clusters were different, ragtops were different in geometry, etc. so one can not be sure unless a car can be definitely identified as a replica due poor quality work (19 out of 20 replicas really suck!) or every single real car still existing can be eliminated.

1 to 3 real cars should exist with the specs shown in these pics and I lack pics on two of them. So, I can't be sure, especially as one very good candidate was last known to be in New York area. Everything on this car is not 100% correct, but it is really hard to know if somebody was trying to build a 100% correct replica (doing better job than most!) - or if a genuine article failed to be repaired 100% accurately.

Speculation is worthless, as cars like these cannot hide for very long after they've come out to play!

Best wishes, Kare

 

Why not? I cannot be the only person on this planet who thinks that open headlight SWBs are far more pretty!

A closed headlights car looks like a stump!

Best wishes, Kare

 

You are not alone. I prefer the open headlight SWBs too...

 

Has to be the spot of the year, I don't know another one that's sparked so much debate. I hope more pics come out though; absolutely gorgeous real or not.

 

Kinda surprised no one has run the plates