THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTHENTICITY
The HCVA is also lining up the challenge of authenticating classics, one of the industry’s longest-lived difficulties. As CEO Wilson puts it: “Inevitably, someone out there will take advantage, especially when values are going through the roof. People are importing cars and bringing cars out of sheds to sell, which we obviously support, though sadly some are exaggerating what they have and others simply falsify histories.” The HCVA has installed Paul Griffin, a former partner in a law firm and now an author and historic racing driver, at the head of its legislation and government policy advisory and working group to tackle such matters.
The industry has already responded, with certification from the likes of the Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens (FIVA) and Fédération Internationale de l’automobile (FIA), as well as those issued by owners’ clubs. The Ferrari Classiche Certificate of Authenticity has set a particularly high standard for many years, while new programmes are still appearing, such as Pagani’s Puro scheme launched in December. But while there are various certifications, there are challenges in establishing a coherent basis on which to pursue regulation that could protect the wider enthusiast collective. “None of these has become the standard,” says Griffin. “At the HCVA we’ve been taking the best parts, considering the weights of these different approaches, and looking to establish something that draws on the available expertise.” It is, he stresses, very much a work in progress, but his view for the future is nothing if not optimistic: “I would like to think that the legal landscape will change in the next five years. My own feeling is that there’s been very little written about this in the past, which is one of the things which motivated my own book.” Griffin hopes that The Past and the Spurious: The Case of Legitimacy in Historic Racing Cars will stir meaningful interest in the subject.
The HCVA has discussed with the DVLA ideas on how to ease the authentication process with marque experts, and plans are in motion for the HCVA to become the classic industry’s answer to the Trustatrader platform. Expected soon is the launch of insurance policies designed to protect owners from the financial fall-out possible when buying classics with valuable provenance.
Like many HCVA members, however, Griffin’s contributions are more than just of intellectual value from his past career. As an active member of the historic racing scene with a 1954 Connaught ALSR and two 1950s Coopers, his is just another in a collective passion for classic cars within the organisation: “One of the things that’s been heartening as we’ve moved on is that there’s a common interest of so many organisations.”