I’ve apologized again and again for that turkey leg incident. Please — can we all just move on.

Oh please… there are still pieces of that leg embedded in my skull.

I’d like to go fast in one of them.

Shawn.
That’s quite a possibility.

You see, I understand what the EU politicians and Intellectual Property Rights campaigners would like us to believe this car is – a one-off ‘fake’ replica of an extremely rare and expensive real Ferrari P4 sports-racer, “made in Thailand”.

The problem is that in truth, such ‘fake’ Ferrari P4 replicas are (relatively) more common – and made a LOT closer to home. They have been produced in kit form in ENGLAND almost continuously from 1987 to 2006. The earliest ‘volume’ ‘Ferrari’ P4 replica kit manufacturer was Lee Noble – then trading as Noble Motorsport, now better known for building ‘proper’ supercars like the much-lauded M12 GTO. Here’s a quote from his website:

‘Lee followed the Ultima with two modern replicas of well-known designs. The first, a recreation of the Lotus 23B, was powered by a Lotus Twin Cam engine with a Renault V6 unit as an alternative. Production reached 60 units before Lee introduced a replica of the Ferrari P4, which proved an even greater success with more than 250 produced, all powered by the Chevrolet V8. As with all his creations, build quality was exemplary – most cars survive today and there is a thriving owners’ club.’

It is my personal belief that this particular car, shown in Brussels on Monday, is a Noble P4 replica, probably built in the early 90’s. It was most likely fitted with a Renault PRV V-6 motor, when first built, which was subsequently replaced by a Subaru flat Boxer-4 – quite possibly in Thailand. I know of at least 12 of these cars in Japan. Such conversions often happen when cars change hands. Other swaps for the PRV V-6 include Chevy and Ferrari 3xx V-8’s.

Incidentally, I run the world-wide register for Ferrari P4 replicas, and so I make it my business to track and identify such cars.
I’m not often wrong in such matters, and I eagerly await the opportunity to inspect this car …. and be proven wrong if I am.

P4 Replica Register,
That is all quite informative. After that fine explanation, it pains me to inform you that you have identified the wrong one.

Your far better informed friend,
Shawn

Au contraire, my lesser informed new-found friend, Shawn.

I just read Frederick W. Mostert’s article in the April 2008 issue of Cigar Aficionado (of all places).

Same car, I’m afraid. And I DO know my P4 replicas.

Well it would be fun, but cruel, for me to just let this go on and on. See, the problem is, you’re talking about the car, and Shawn has been talking about the woman…

And there was I about to deal Shawn ‘the ‘killer blow’ LOL !!

Still, these things need to be said, and this seems like a good place.

I need to qualify something I wrote in my previous post, anyway.

Where I wrote ‘Same car’, I was referring to the (fake) Ferrari P4 replica, shown as the central exhibit at Authentic Foundation’s ‘FAKES CO$T MORE’ expo in Brussels on Monday, described there, as being ‘made in Thailand’ ….

…. as being one and the same car (obviously) as that featured in the article written by their chairman, Frederick W. Mostert, published in the April 2008 issue of Cigar Aficionado magazine ….

…. and also the very same car in the photograph which was waved about by EU commissioner VP Franco Frattini at the Intellectual Property Rights press conference in Brussels, in May 2006, which was allegedly ‘photographed in a scrap-yard on the outskirts of Shanghai. Closer examination of that photograph proved the car’s origin to be ‘a little’ closer to home.

I think I can state, fairly confidently, that this is a BRITISH-built (Noble Motorsports) kit-car Ferrari P4 replica, which until its recent whirlwind blaze of publicity has spent most of the last 15 years in and around London.

Oh, and by the way, Robert ….

Your opening statement was way off:

‘Here we are at a big international auto show’

It was at a one-day ‘fakes’ exhibition in Brussels.