Tatra_Man

Thanks for your interesting and informative replies. While I understand and agree with your comments, I still feel that something is missing by not being made aware of the date of the coachwork on a rebodied automobile - if that date is known. I'm not sure about CCCA events, but at someplace like Pebble Beach it is the coachwork that decides whether a vehicle is a possible contender for Best of Show. From there it's just a matter of the quality of restoration. In such instances, the coachwork is deemed the most significant element of an automobile In reality, the maker of the chassis is of little consequence (although it will certainly be that of a Classic in the CCCA's sense of the word). As there's a huge difference between a body made in the 1920s and one from the 1930s, wouldn't it be a more historically precise to list both the chassis and coachwork dates of a rebodied car (such as a 1925/1935 Rolls)? Has this ever been considered an issue within the CCCA? And do you think that owners of rebodied automobiles would consider doing such as possibly damaging to their automobile's reputation?

Hello, I have a question about what the accepted practice is for dating re-bodied classic automobiles. Over the years I have seen many legitimately re-bodied classics at concours events. One thing that has always puzzled me about these cars is that the chassis date is the only year stated when the automobile is displayed. The newer body doesn?t seem to bear any significance when dating the car, despite the fact that it is often the newer body and not the chassis that makes the car the masterpiece it is. Is this the accepted method for dating a re-bodied classic? The reason I ask this is because I am very interested in the evolution of automobile body design (styling). I enjoy studying where certain features first originated in the business. Yet, sometimes this becomes very difficult to do because of the apparent practice of using only chassis dates for re-bodied automobiles. A recent example has particular meaning to a Tatra-lover like myself. The "round door" Rolls Royce owned by Mr. Petersen is a 1935 body constructed on a 1925 chassis. The rear end of the 1935 Jonkheere body built for the 1925 Rolls chassis is obviously inspired by the 1934 Tatra T77. Yet, if a 1934 Tatra T77 were sitting next to the Rolls at a concours event, nearly everyone would assume that Tatra copied the Rolls nine years after the fact because the Rolls will be labeled as a 1925 rather than a 1935. So, why isn?t the Rolls labeled as a 1935 instead? Or, perhaps more appropriately, why isn?t it considered a 1925/1935 automobile? What is the CCCA's take on this issue?