I was just talking with buddy of mine who owns an RCR GT40 kit car and he just brought to my attention that Carol Shelby has filed a major lawsuit against Factory Five Racing. FFR is a major manufacturer of after market kit cars. Cobras, GT500 Daytona, etc and has been doing so with known consent from CS for MANY years. They are also the company that build the well known GTM supercar. Lawsuit is pending on copyright infringement on Type 65 chassis car.
I can understand THAT aspect to a degree, even though Shelby has been to FFR and has personally witnessed and expressed his greatest interest and compliments on building such fantastic replicas of his own machines. He has personally seen completed kits throughout meetings/shows across the country and has even SIGNED various components and chassis with his signature in the very same nature that he has done so on the real cars.
What is pissing me off is he is ALSO suing the owner of a well established cobra kit car web forum as well who is in no relation to FFR itself but just a place for owners of said cars to gather and exchange information, stories, topics, etc…as like ANY other selective Automotive forum(aka, rennlist, pelican, gt40, hondatech, etc…)
The owner of that forum has put out of pocket massive mounts of money to foot that site for all members, and is now being handed monthly ~$7-10K lawyer bills to defend himself against yet another ridiculous and frivolous lawsuit
It’s absolute bullshit to drag in an outside reference to this damn lawsuit based soly on hearsay(internet forum can’t prove who is actually behind the screen/keyboard = hearsay)
As a fellow GT40 member best put it “Frankly I think the old b@stard’s cheese has slid totally off the cracker… C. Shelby is now realizing the massive growth of the aftermarket kit car industry based on his work and now wants his hands in the cookie jar of others hard work and cash out on it. Quite the American way right there”
:shifty I guess this just get’s under my skin in an ugly way as this is what my business is directing towards(kit cars).
thats funny because my father just bought a 2007 gt500 for the simple reason that he would gain equity in the car when he dies. i mean its not a trailer queen and he does drive it, but thats y he bought it, well and the fact that he loves the car.
Factory Five doesn’t make a GT40/Lola replica, you’re thinking of RCR(Race Car Replica’s) version. Or confusing their GTM for a GT40 replica???
Yeah filing suits on everyone, at the cost of someone’s lively hood when their lawyers know that the thing will be tossed based on hearsay(happens all the time, I’ve been to court many times over such instances as witnesses defending people/businesses). It’s not like Bill has a small fortune set aside where he can pluck from to pay attorney fees to defend himself against this prick. I imagine it’ll drag on for at least 3-4 months, at which point Bill has to cough up ~20K. I know FFC members have donated over $5K of their own money to assist Bill in this matter.
Just ridiculous. I just get really upset on how far this frivolous lawsuit shit get taken, and how many people actually get away with it :idiots
Ford went on a lawsuit binge a few years ago too, giving out cease and desist orders for Ford vehicle based websites. They must not have gotten too far because theres a ton of Ford vehicle forums still around.
rofl:rofl