Ebay Repop Alert..Beware!!! 1965 Press Packet!!!

Thanks for the headsup, Vern. I have been watching this one too. Hey Vern, I have to ask you a personal question. Are you of the family that I used to buy Estes rockets & engines from back in the '60's? His name was Vern also and he used to get all of my weekly allowance.

 

This would be of great benefit to all of us Shelby enthusiasts. I certainly appreciate your efforts and will contribute whatever I might have. I do have several of the original parts catalogs and some other misc.

 

Hi Vern,
It is just not literature but everything from axles to tee shirts, or in other words anything connected with the Total Performance era for Ford and Shelby.
At least two companies were actively commissioning the recreation of “Shelby” parts and accessories as early as 1974. That was just over roughly one and a half years after Autosports closed up.
I’ll speak of Cobra and 427 Cobra parts. Many people are very naïve to believe all the “original” parts for sale in any venue are truly production era 1963 through 1968 production and or service parts. There were less than a thousand cars made of all versions in those years. Even if AC Cars / Shelby / Ford had provided a twenty percent extra production of unique parts to keep the cars going there is no way most of the genuine cars and all the fakes have been rebuilt and or restored two or more times each since the 1970s with original parts. If you read the SAAC 1997 Registry most cars have been fixed up, rebuilt, and or restored more than once. You can be sure that AC Cars / Shelby / Ford did not make 998 cars and also enough parts to rebuild (or build in the case of fake cars) 3,000 to 4,000 of them.
The Cobra (leaf spring cars) and 427 Cobra (coil spring cars) situation is so bad that even long term owners of these cars may have never seen an original of many parts on their cars and counterfeits are judged by the many as original and the originals judged as fakes. Want to get mad, have somebody tell you your unrestored original paint Cobra is a fake because it is not the way so in so builds or 'restores' them.
There is nothing wrong with well done recreations. They are after all necessary to keep the cars from becoming yard art. The problem, as you and others have said, is advertising counterfeits as originals. That is fraud. If for example a genuine NOS service part was $100.00 on the market and somebody made copies, advertised them as copies, and managed to sell them for $100.00 plus. Great more power to them. That is free enterprise. If someone make copies and sells them for any price represented as genuine “originals” that is fraud. If you will notice some sellers, especially ones that have sales sheets they will distribute, the will say something like this in their copy, “Parts for Original Cobras” or “Parts As Original”. Naïve buyers may assume the parts are original. The seller made a play on words to cover himself in both examples I gave. When I bought my first service parts for my car in 1983 I thought the seller meant original but when I received the parts they were clearly not. When I asked the seller about them he pointed out his wording of “as original”, meaning they were not original but similar.

Buyer Beware!

Dan

 

I have what I believe is an original press packet, it even has an error - 2 Phil Hill "at a glance" and Bio's (Marital Status: Single) are in the package. I am looking to see if there are watermarks on the paper, or other indications that would be clues for your project.
Most of the staples have some minor rust, etc. Pix are sharp, cover of kit is the flat white with a patina and there are a few creases, folds that I am not happy about, but it is what it is.

Found some water marks - in script, ask your friend if his has them as well, and email me privately about that - I have already placed a call to the paper company (it dates back to the late 1800's) to see if they have any historical info on the use of watermarks, etc. Printing is old school, with bleed through, and paper is not modern in manufacture under a magnifying glass.

Added @ 1015 am

Further research: Spoke to a manager @ the paper company (since merged with another, but has been there a long time) The water mark in question and the type of paper is 60 to 70's only, when mimeograph was the most common form of reproduction. He has indicated that the watermarks back then are crisp (like what I described to him), and that over time, the watermark imprints became fuzzy, developed "cracks", and eventually were discontinued.
This of course does not mean that it is genuine, but makes me believe it is.

Mike

 

As a follow up to Dan's post, I have sent emails to sellers on eBay telling them they should change their description because the item is not original. I have received replies of disbelief because they have owned the item for 25 years so it has to be real.

 

Absolutely. I bought a part somebody had for decades about two years ago that didn't seem just quite right. Compared side by side with an original it was different in several features. I paid quite a lot believing it to be genuine 1964 NOS. I accidently found out this summer that a well known parts dealer had it made nearly thirty years ago.

Literature wise bogus Cobra and 427 Cobra chassis manuals are for sale frequently. My favorite counterfeit is the Cobra one that has a hand written S1CS Shelby part number in it. The original manual used as a holotype had some owner made notations in it. The copies do too. Just seeing the notation is a dead give-a-way even if you don't recognize things like different type and thickness paper and cover were used, that the height and width are different, and some text and art are missing from the first and last pages.

 

Vern,
ever hear from your friend about the watermarks?

Mike

 

No problem - I think the watermark will be the key factor in determining who has legit originals.

Mike

 

Nope, my original has no watermarks, the dead give away is the quality of the photos, the originals are sharp, the Dearborn repops are slightly hazy. You may think the Dearborn ones are pretty good til you look at an original photo from an original press kit. They are first generation quality. I got my press kit from the young man (at the time) who came up with the press kit brainstorm, Gordon Thorne. I have all his Shelby American paperwork for the short time he was the assistant P.R. person under Max Muhleman. Thanks to his resume, we know how many press kits were made in 1965, 400. A number that would probably never be known unless he had saved a copy of his resume. Needless to say original press kits are rarely seen.

 

Keep in mind that almost ALL paper had a water mark indicating the manufacturer. Even stamps (older, granted) have them. This applies to that era. Modern day paper production is a bit different, especially copy and printer paper.

Hold one of the sheets (not the photos) up to the light.

I am willing to bet you will see the name of the company that made the paper.

Send a PM to me with the result.

Mike