[DeTomaso] Message from Olczyk Phil, the author of the official De Tomaso Book

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/24/08 11 27 34, info at ferraribuy.com writes:


> Hello, I respond to the previous message from Mike Drew.( my employe send 
> me the message
> 
> My name is Philippe Olczyk and I m the author of the official book of De 
> Tomaso Racing Cars.
> 
>>>Which is quite a piece of work.   By the way, I still have a few copies 
left for sale.   I don't know if they are available anywhere else in the USA, as 
PI sold out a long time ago.   Contact me if you're interested--it's really 
quite fascinating, loaded with zillions of photos.
> 
> >All the officials infos are inside the book and all infos come from the 
> archives of DE Tomaso factory.
> 
> The funny comments regarding WArren Tope Pantera are without any 
> consideration and Mike Drew ( who I considere as a friend ) shoot himself in the foot. I 
> m sad to realise that he might lost any credibility by posting such nonsens.
> 
>>>What is it that you object to?   I have seen photos of the car when it was 
for sale in the USA and spoken with experts who went to view it with the 
intent of purshasing it, and found it was in very, very bad shape--heavily 
modified due to crash damage (As I recall, there was almost no original chassis 
remaining aft of the firewall, it had been replaced by a tubular structure), and 
rusted where it wasn't modified.   If it was a regular Pantera and not a Gr4 
car, it would have been a candidate for the blast furnace.   But given that the 
genuine Gr4 cars have intrinsic value, somebody made the decision to rescue it, 
a sentiment I admire.   I have NOT seen it since it has been restored, but I 
have heard through several sources that it is EXCELLENT now, returned to its 
former glory, and quite a tribute to whoever took on the challenge of restoring 
it.

Is it not true that it's a great car now?

Actually, come to think of it, the car eventually appeared in Belgium.   Were 
you the one who was responsible for its restoration?   If so, why not take 
pride in what you have accomplished, rescuing a Pantera from the dead, as I have 
with my own car?   I don't pretend that my car was a perfect, original car 
when I bought it--I freely admit it was a total piece of crap, and rightly 
should have been scrapped.   Instead I made the decision to restore it, partly 
because I was foolish, but partly as a matter of principle, and the finished 
result is now quite a good car indeed.

Apparently, the same is true of 2344, the Warren Tope car.   If you're 
responsible for its restoration (resurrection is more like it), stand up and take a 
bow, don't conceal it.

> 
> >Regarding Candy cars, in the book, everythings is clearly explain.
> 
> 30 Years ago, Sala ( the semi official racing team De Tomaso ) built 2 cars 
> from 1 car.
> First car = Gr 5
> Second car = Gr4
> I don t known why, but Sala did it 30 years ago.
> 
>>>Yes, it's well-documented in your book that a counterfeit car was 
constructed using a later street car platform.


> Mike Drew believe that DE Tomaso cannot do this ! I disagree as De Tomaso 
> can do what he want as he is the builder of the car, it s my opinion.
> The difference between Drew and DE Tomaso is big, DE Tomaso is the builder, 
> he is the boss and he do what he want.
> Drew is a enthousiasm, he can have his opinion, I don t share it as for me, 
> DE Tomaso can decide who is right or wrong.
> 
>>>True enough--we do have a difference of opinion here.   I believe it is 
fundamentally unethical for anybody (including De Tomaso) to take an existing 
street car, rebrand it with the serial number of a genuine race car, and then 
attempt to pass the street car as the genuine race car, and accuse the genuine 
car of being a counterfeit!   Of course De Tomaso can take parts from one car 
and transfer them to another, but there is a huge difference between 
transferring hardware, and transferring IDENTITY.   The minute somebody stamps the 
serial number of one car onto another one (particularly when that number alone 
conveys a much greater value), they have created a lie (and in this country 
anyway, and probably in Europe too, committed a serious criminal offense punishable 
by jail).
> 
> >Anyway, 30 years later, we have 2 cars with the same identity and this fact 
> is well known for 30 years. When Patrick Hals bought the US car, he knew 
> this fact and the car was cheap because of the twin identity.
> It s not my fault, this problem was made 30 years ago.
> 
>>>The fact MAY have been known in Europe, although I doubt it.   I know the 
last two former American owners of the Candy car, and the guy who sold it from 
the first to the second (Dave Adler), and none of them were aware that 
somebody had generated a duplicate back in Europe.   It's easy to find out such 
things today via the Internet, but 10-15 years ago we lived in a very different 
world.
> 
> Now, we can argue for years to discuss which car is the most original.
> I believe that only the builder can decide, not me, not Mike, nobody except 
> the builder, which means Santiago  DE Tomaso.
> 
>>>Santiago De Tomaso was probably a schoolboy when the car was originally 
built (and I freely admit, I was as well!)   So it is disingenuous to 
characterize Santiago as 'the builder'.

The builders of the genuine cars are long dead, sadly, so we can't ask them.  
 And even if we could, do you think the counterfeiters would admit to what 
they had done, given that technically it's illegal?   

Italy takes a very dim view of counterfeit race cars; in fact just within the 
past few years, Italian courts ordered some exquisite 'clone' cars to be 
destroyed!   These cars weren't even pretending to be original; the builder and 
the owner freely admitted that they had taken some original components and 
fabricated brand new cars around them.   I can't remember the marque--Alfa Romeo, 
or Ferrari, or ???   But it was quite sad, because the judge ordered the cars 
to be melted down, and even the original components were destroyed!


> Let s send both cars to the factory, and after review of all the docs, let 
> s the factory decide.
> 
>>>Well, given that the factory has been being paid by the owner of the 
counterfeit car for many years to service and maintain it (and (this is a question 
I am asking here) was the factory involved in the sale of the car to that 
owner, and did they tell him that it was a fake when he bought it?), I wouldn't 
exactly expect them to be overly objective about the dispute!
> 
> >Stop the talking, stop the dispute, stop the non sens
> Send both cars to the factory and clear the problem definitely.
> 
>>>Better yet, let's just expose the VIN of the counterfeit car, which is 
probably still stamped on the body somewhere, and clear the problem definitely.   
Then appreciate that car for what it is--a very well-prepared road Pantera 
converted to race in the Gr4 category.

Mike


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