Replicas Vs Continuations

THE WONDERFUL TROUBLED WORLD OF REPLICAS Vs CONTINUATIONS

Words and photos John Dennehy

Thinking of building a replica? John Dennehy has a word of caution…

If you ever find yourself in the south of England wandering around the back streets of terraced homes in suburban Surrey, you’d be hard pressed to notice a small alleyway halfway down one such street.

This is the home of Richard Stuart Williams Ltd, better known simply as RSW, a moniker bandied about by those fortunate enough to have had their classic breathed on by Richard and his team over more than five decades, and where the TV cameras headed to, to make the documentary “Stars and their Cars” in the 1990s.

It’s also where, in 1991 and 1992, the world of continuation cars kicked off when RSW, in collaboration with Aston Martin Lagonda (AML), oversaw the build of six so called Sanction 2 DB4 Zagatos, of which only 19 had been built in period and saw success on the track in the 1960s, taking on Ferrari and Jaguar in epic sports car battles worldwide. For some, the DB4 Zagato was even more beautiful to the eye than the Ferrari 250GTO, although I concede it’s a close run thing. Importantly, AML agreed to pass on six AML period chassis numbers to RSW for the builds.

To give some idea of the financial imperative driving these prime marque continuation builds, an original DB4 GT Zagato can command up to $40m, and a Sanction 2 RSW, more than $10m. Phew!

Jump forward to 2019 and now AML itself is in the game, producing a further limited run of ‘tool-room’ copies of the car and to no great surprise, significantly beefed up with over a 100hp more on tap than the original. But you couldn’t just rock up and buy one, even if you had the $8m+ (yes, really) sitting around doing nothing else as you would already own a ‘significant’ modern Aston, and, wait for it, also order one of the ‘new’ continuation DB4 GTs, the whole package setting back the lucky few about $12m. Gulp.

AML will tell you these are ‘continuations’ but they are in effect, replicas, as unlike the Sanction 2 Zagatos, they don’t have period validated chassis and as a result these new AML factory cars aren’t road legal in the UK. Undeterred and given the queue of buyers, AML has also now built 25 Goldfinger DB5s, with all the clever gubbins (the ejector seat, doesn’t, for obvious reasons — they’re no fun these AML people) for a modest $6m+ a pop. And no, you can’t drive these on the road but for $3m a pop plus change, you can of course fire up the smoke gun from the rear and foul up the washing on the line.

Other manufacturers had also caught on to the opportunity. In 2015 Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) announced the build of a further six factory E Type lightweights, circumventing the need to comply them with modern standards by claiming (rather conveniently) that the six chassis numbers to be used were merely hibernating somewhere after the fire at their famous Browns Lane factory in 1957. This after 12 of the race modified cars had been built. An original will set you back a modest $11m or so, and a continuation a snip at $3-4m. And they haven’t stopped there; a further 25 D Types, echoing those famous Le Mans wins in the mid 1950s, and a clutch of stunning C Types will all be built, again, and unlike the continuation E Types, neither being capable of being road registered. (The catch here is that neither Aston nor Jaguar qualify for small manufacturer compliance exemptions under UK regulations – ironic to say the least.)

In the US, Carroll Shelby didn’t hold back. His company Shelby America building hundreds of street legal Cobras, true to the originals as practicable and whose values hold steady at around $400-500k a pop. To collar an original in period early 60s CSX chassis Cobra is a more frightening seven figures. Needless to say, and understandably, the wonderful simplicity and brute force of the Cobra design has spawned any number of replicas worldwide.

Just to liven up the whole continuation scene, Lister has resurrected the stunning and stunningly successful 1957 Lister Knobbly in a series of continuations that as well as being a serious track weapon, are road legal under the small manufacturer regulations. Yours for about $1.5m. Not to be outdone in the old rising from the ashes trick, comes Allard with a continuation of their 1950s JR Sports Racer, although I see that a recent car offered for sale at about $300k hasn’t found a home.

The many superb engineers and coachbuilders in Italy haven’t missed out on the fun either. For me, one of the all-time great small sports cars, is the Alfa Romeo TZ1. In period (1963-7) about 124 were built and to quote a wag from Motorsport some years ago, ‘only 500 survived’. Most of the rest were probably built on Alfa Giulia chassis which they shared and I’d happily have one should a few hundred thousand dollars drop my way. Alfa GTAs and Maserati Tipo 60 Birdcages have had similar flatteries bestowed on them and on unsuspecting buyers.

Here’s where it gets uncomfortable, so hang on to the steering wheel of your replica while you digest the latest from a Swedish High Court operating, presumably, under the wider jurisdiction of the EU of which that country is a law-abiding member. ... Purchase Beaded Wheels issue 377 to read the rest of this story.