what is acceptable on a 308 GTO recreation?

I draw the line more on the engineering and execution -- i.e., I wouldn't mind having a 288GTO coachwork with a pumped up 355, or later, engine mounted longitudinally with the gearbox behind, but would have no interest in 288 coachwork with a stock 308i-2V underneath. JMO.

 

I don't draw any line. It is no one else's business except the car's owner what he does with his automobile.

 

I dont think there is much Ferrari can do if they are building a Ferrari out of a Ferrari..

 

D..n! I managed to follow the whole topic about the 308 GTO recreation STAYING ABSOLUTELY SILENT until now!
This is the one question to which I would like to be able to have a clear idea, and into which I am interested.
I remember very well the rather lenient attitude of the old man himself towards the Favre 250 GTO in the eighties, until FIAT lawyers stepped in...where do they draw the line today? Why threatening and/or suing some people and not the others? Why are they so interested in preserving some of their designs, and not the others (aka, the Fieroraris...).
As for the rest, I am rather on Dr Tommy principles; I do not necessarly like conversions / replicas, but people do what they want with their car(s).

 

flames on the side (stickers only), giant triple decker wing, really dirty engine bay. done

 

Why would this be any different than any other replicar - say a Fiero made into a bad Testarossa?

 

It is the car's owner's business only.

I have been in the process of changing my QV into an 81/82 look right down to the correct headliner. It is my car and I answer to no one as to how I decorate it. No difference.

 

+1 Lost

 

Rob,
There still are, from time to time, things that astonish me a lot. There was an add some months ago, here in France, that, to me, was on the wrong side of the line.

A man from "a neighboring country" (shall we say, without naming it...) was manufacturing an absolutely identical replica of the 246 GT, with a price in the range of a well sorted 355 (about 60.000 €, if my memory, etc..) except that it had an Alfa-Romeo V6 engine. Nice idea, with an engine that is no slouch and makes beautiful music too...but clearly an infrigement on intellectual property (can a car shape, or a whole car be copyrighted, by the way?).
His "recreation" was open to orders/reservations, claimed to be road-legal...
I have not seen the add for some months, so perhaps the legal dept stepped in, but to me, the guy has clearly crossed the line; he should never have been able to have his add published? On the other hand, even here you might find "Fieroraris" for sale regularly, not many of them, but without any problem at all; are these not also "defaming a design"?
(well, not wanting to highjack the thread, so back to the 308 GTO anyway...)

Best,

 

As long as they don't try to sell it as a 288GTO and offer full disclosure if they sell it, who cares? And why care?

 

Now that is totally different.

If you are asking would we agree that it is okay for a private company to tool up and begin production on a replica from scratch, well, of course that would be a problem.

But if you are asking about someone taking an existing car they happen to fully own and bolting on it whatever body panels he sees fit, then it's his car and his business.

 

exactly

why would anyone stop what they are doing and give a ****?

 

Why mentioned China? How would they produce 100's a year? Come to the US and start buying up 308's and 328's to build the cars on? I cant think of any company that has ever bought up something made decades ago, then remanufactured them again. Can you? Im sure it's been done somehow on a small scale. I doubt the big company that built them would care much. UNLESS, they are deliberately being sold as the big ticked item that they are duplicating. THEN... THERE IS a legal issue. In my eyes.

 

What about if they contract a shop to do the work for them? The shop is making a profit off the change/conversion use of the IP of others. Can't wait until celebs start sueing plastic surgeons for giving patients their noses.....

just being the Devil's Advocate. I agree with your POV 100%.

 

I'm with Dr Tommy with the exception that I don't think it should have GTO badges, but that's probably a minor point. Owners can do whatever they want to their own car.

That said, "exact copy" is a little misleading because most of these GTO rebodies are missing the single biggest item - the longer wheelbase. At least to me, that makes it glaringly obvious that it's not real and therefore not an exact copy even if all the details are the same.

 

http://icon4x4.com/ check these guys out.

 

Nick,

The "Favre GTO" in the eighties would be a case in point, no? Favre took great care as not to present the cars as true 250 GTO (I still have some of his adds in French somewhere), but exactly for what they were: recreation on a 250 chassis. As I hinted above, the Old Man himself didn't pay much attention at the beginning, but when the FIAT lawyers stepped in...the end was rather sad (Favre commited suicide).

(On the other hand, the Old Man was really infuriated when an italian guy selling ham used the famous insignia, but with a prancing pig in place of the horse...then, the Old Man really blew his top...)

 

But if you are asking about someone taking an existing car they happen to fully own and bolting on it whatever body panels he sees fit, then it's his car and his business.[/QUOTE]

+1

I think Rob thinks these folks have evil intentions. All the Cobra owners, Shelby Elinore-clone owners, Porsche speedster/Spyder owners. Any women that owns a CZ ring, or has a fake set of tatas. Or a knock-ff purse. For that matter ANYBODY who's gone to a plastic surgeon. Didnt God make you perfect? How about anybody who dyes their hair? Anybody who has a car with vinyl instead of leather? After all, vinyl was made to duplicate leather. How about all the 80's tribute bands out there in the world making money off the original band?.
Was there anything copied on this website to make it better, which you read or saw on other car websites (and thought it could improve this website) Rob? I've seen this web layout on LOTS of chat sites. Why not make your own design? Make it unique, like no other? Just saying... where do you draw a line?

To what extreme do you go? And is that how someone really wants to live their life, monitoring how other people live? Or even taking your time to give a crap?

I appreciate a women with a nice body and don't care how she got it. Personality is what counts. Anybody who owns a knock off Porsche mustang or what-ever, is showing some respect to the original car if they go out of their way to buy that car, or build that car. I dont think they have evil intentions of showing off to others. If you dye your hair, good for you. Go to the doctor to make yourself fell better, good for you. Form a band and learn to play all the old Van Halen songs to play in Peoria on a Tue. night when Van Halen never even played Peoria, good for them (haha). If you see something nicer on another car-chat site, steal it and make it your own Rob. Good for you... you're making this site better & probably not hurting anybody.

 

I hired an outside shop to put in my 80-82 headliner.

Am I in legal trouble now?