[QUOTE=raymond1354;17742478] This is off-topic, but sorry ... I just can't resist!

Many years ago, I attended a race-meet for vintage cars. I was hanging about the paddock photographing some very beautiful machines when I heard a loud fracas going on among a group of middle-aged men — or rather, one man in Nomex racing gear was red-faced and bellowing beside a beautiful, but smoking, hot-metal creaking AC Bristol with the engine hood open. A group of obviously amateur mechanics in matching overalls were dog-faced in chagrin and dazed in shock. They had overlooked — failed— to put oil in the engine!

The owner had blasted around the 1.8 mile circuit for at least one lap during practice-time before the obvious had occurred. Having raced motorcycles on the same track, I was incredulous, but fascinated — even as I grieved for one of the rarest engines on the planet. I'd never heard of such an oversight ever having occurred. It could have been a joke except I knew that this very rare power plant had taken one more step towards extinction.

More to the salient topic: that particular car might have been an obvious candidate for being turned into something resembling a Cobra. Accidents — or foolishness — can undo cherished relics. Maybe the engine was resurrected. Maybe it wasn't. (My guess — it was a write-off, but ....)

Back to bicycles: I have seen Sendai's only frame builder repair crashed keirin bikes — like Nagasawa. He sweats out the bent tubes and brazes in new Kasei steel and then aligns the frame. Is it a Nagasawa? It may be a moot point, but there is a cutting edge in the question. My answer is 'yes' ... a repaired Nagasawa.

What about the dead AC Bristol? Well. It could have been re-engined; enough money can do almost anything. It could have been made into an AC Ace by installing a smaller engine (1600 cc Ford block????). Or, it may have been converted into the illustrious Cobra. Now here is a fine point:

My memory of the time (back in the Cretacious) was that the first Cobras were AC's that were modified to house a V-8. Obviously range things would have been affected and made subject to change — not the least being the suspension.

What about the Nagasawa example? Well, not a thing would have changed, except perhaps the temper and molecular structure of the original tubing due to brazing and reheating. Same tubing! — all Keirin bikes have to conform. Only the craftsmanship would be of significance. This is a repair using the same materials. It is a Nagasawa — however — a repaired Nagasawa. And it should be reportd as such if and when the owner offers it to aprospective buyer in future days.

And so the same stands for the burnt-out, ex-Brsitol — now as close to a Cobra as the first Cobras — but perhaps not so similar as the last of them to be made. There were AC's turned made into Cobras from the start, and they have provenance as artifacts that have a specific history. The burnt out Bristol that may have become a Cobra is not the same thing. Close — "but no cigar"!

The same complexity of circumstances applies to all machines — and most attractively to airplanes, motorcycles, automobiles and vessels of the world's waters such as sailing boats and racing yachts.

There is a thin line, but it is there and evident in the story that can be told ... and should be told to those people who will either inherit or purchase the piece. The closer to art and artisanship, the more important is the demand to reveal the story that is the history of the vehicle/artifact. All vehicles — even my wife's 20 year old Hnda puddle jumper has a log book. The entire story is in there. As for my now rater rare Yamaha SRX-4 — I depend on the records I keep. And any subsequent owner all have all the info he/she needs to know exactly how it got from factory to me, to them.
_________________________________

BTW, there were two more interesting cars produced by AC — the "Ace" that looked like the "Bristol", but had a smaller engine; and the AC Aceca, which was an enclosed "GT" car.

Mea culpa,— I won't do it again