Jaguar sues a bloke who build a replica - and wins!

[Guy Mayers]

Re IPR, I remember one of our very own at the Lancia Centenary in 2006 was asked if he could show his Hawk replica to Fiat engineers at the Fiat Centro Stylo we were visiting!! Was that innocent interest (probably)?

Guilty as charged m'lid. Sort of.
At the la Mandria test track Giorgio Pianta sent an interpreter over to ask if he could come over and look over the Stratos replica in detail and then spent so long doing so Andrea & I missed out on the lunch that day.
At Centro Stile we were asked (by the president of the Lancia Club Italy (sorry, can't remember his name) and Dr Enrico Masala (Lancia Museum curator) to move the car to the front with three other cars (Lambda/Aprilia/Fulvia I think) for a photograph for the Company Magazine (never did get a copy..) after which we were approached by said gentlemen and asked if we'd lend them the car for the gala dinner presentation, alongside Stratos Zero, that evening being attended by the widow of Nuccio Bertone. Fortunately they were both gentlemanly enough to take 10 minutes to decide that maybe it wasn't appropriate to use a replica when it was pointed out that, being RHD, it wasn't an original!
But they didn't exclude us from the results of the regularity rally that took place at La Mandria which was lucky. Because we won it!
That was one very very memorable trip. Can't believe it was 15 years ago!
Guy