Missing the Point
Just because people did it, does not make it legal. Can anyone state where their country's or state's laws allow them to take the VIN plate (or registration number or whatever it is called) from one existing car and place it on another existing (not brand new)? The VIN on a body is supposed to stay on that body. Just because the body is wrecked or rusted does not mean that it can legally be moved to another (Alpine) body. Registering it as a Tiger is fraud. As already stated, doing this is not saving a Tiger. It is not rebodying a Tiger. It is repowering an Alpine, using Tiger parts.
And let's not forget that an Alpine body was built different from a Tiger body. Using an Alpine body to "make" a Tiger is no different than using an Austin Healey 3000 body to make a Cobra, just easier.
Sorry if this is getting redundant, but there are far too many misconceptions out there about Tigers. We don't need any more. The thinking that putting a Tiger VIN plate on an Alpine body makes the Alpine into a Tiger is one of them.
David
By the way, my statements should not be taken as any disrespect to those from the UK or Germany or any other country as Warren seemed to imply in an earlier posting. Yes, there is a more prevalent attitude to switching VIN plates from Tiger to Alpines than here in the US, but there are people here who also have no issues with calling their Alpine with a Tiger VIN a Tiger. (It also appears that the law in the UK does not seem to allow it.) When Michele and I visited the UK and France for many of the Tiger 50 events, we met many wonderful Tiger folks from the UK, Germany, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, as well as others.
Just because people did it, does not make it legal. Can anyone state where their country's or state's laws allow them to take the VIN plate (or registration number or whatever it is called) from one existing car and place it on another existing (not brand new)? The VIN on a body is supposed to stay on that body. Just because the body is wrecked or rusted does not mean that it can legally be moved to another (Alpine) body. Registering it as a Tiger is fraud. As already stated, doing this is not saving a Tiger. It is not rebodying a Tiger. It is repowering an Alpine, using Tiger parts.
And let's not forget that an Alpine body was built different from a Tiger body. Using an Alpine body to "make" a Tiger is no different than using an Austin Healey 3000 body to make a Cobra, just easier.
Sorry if this is getting redundant, but there are far too many misconceptions out there about Tigers. We don't need any more. The thinking that putting a Tiger VIN plate on an Alpine body makes the Alpine into a Tiger is one of them.
David
By the way, my statements should not be taken as any disrespect to those from the UK or Germany or any other country as Warren seemed to imply in an earlier posting. Yes, there is a more prevalent attitude to switching VIN plates from Tiger to Alpines than here in the US, but there are people here who also have no issues with calling their Alpine with a Tiger VIN a Tiger. (It also appears that the law in the UK does not seem to allow it.) When Michele and I visited the UK and France for many of the Tiger 50 events, we met many wonderful Tiger folks from the UK, Germany, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, as well as others.