When the original copies the copy
Small cars often emulate big role models. Auto Union 1000 Sp and NSU Prinz 4 immediately spring to mind. The Wendler sports roadster based on the Gutbrod Superior, which was only built twelve times in 1951, was clearly based on the Jaguar XK 120. And yet the small two-stroke two-seater was much more modern in one detail: instead of being closely spaced and mounted on top, the headlights of the German miniature were recessed into the fenders.
Around 50 years later, the American Dennis Eynon took up this idea when restoring his XK 120 and copied the only deviating feature of the copy onto the original. However, this was little more than an amusing coincidence, as the small German roadster is probably quite unknown in Arizona. Eynon cites the Jaguar C-Type as the model for the idea. Understandable, after all, it was built almost five times as often.
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