More pontifical than the Pope?
10/02/2024
In our work, we come across incorrectly labeled automobiles time and again. Be it in auction catalogs, on start lists, in photos or on other occasions: The cars mentioned there simply never existed.
One of our favorite examples is the Dino 246 GT (or the Targa variant 246 GTS pictured). How often do we read Ferrari Dino 206 GT, presumably because the person naming it fears that the public will not recognize the high-class mid-range sports car as a "Ferrari" without the corresponding manufacturer's name. In fact, Ferrari sold the 246 GT with its own dealer network under the Dino brand. This was also continued with the Dino 308 GT4, at least initially. Even the owners of these vehicles sometimes replaced the Dino brand emblems with Ferrari horses. And today, people like to list the Ferrari Dino 246 GT in auction lot lists to make the car more important.
Should we correct this every time? Is it really that important?
There are also less prominent examples that sometimes appear incorrectly. The Porsche 914, for example, was actually sold as such in the USA, but in Europe it was clearly a VW Porsche.
The MG models A, B and C are very difficult, because even the manufacturer resorted to the "abbreviation" and called the cars MGA or MGB, so brand and type designations were merged. Of course, this doesn't sit well with rigid database structures, which we also have to deal with. Or how about the Imperial Crown Imperial. Of course, hardly anyone called it that back then, even though it would have been the correct combination of brand and type.
And how exactly do you spell "De Tomaso"? The car actually says "de Tomaso", but you usually see "De Tomaso" written on it. And is it a Glas Goggomobil or simply a Goggomobil, a Volkswagen or a VW Beetle? The answers often differ in the details, e.g. the year of manufacture. In this case, you can usually leave the five straight. But when we see a Mercedes-Benz SL 230 and logically this would mean a Pagoda, our hair stands on end.
We are sure that our readers know of other, more beautiful examples, such as the Alfa Romeo Bertone, which of course never existed. But why don't you tell us a few more beautiful examples of misnamed cars, we're curious!
