[iicarJohn]

If there are those who think that promoting ignorance is more desirable than promoting knowledge, then I will have to disagree. There are risks in promoting either. And by attempting to show one, there is risk of showing the other. Which would you rather be promoting, even at the risk of showing the other? For those who are more timid and take the head-in-the-sand approach, I will state simply that you are actually promoting ignorance.

I am among those who are upset at the possibility that my work has inspired someone to try to utilize a number that seemed to have been "lost" in their "bitsa special". I knew that there was this possibility when I prepared and distributed the results of my work. There were actually a number of intentional omissions from the listings when it seemed appropriate. Some of the omissions were by request of certain owners, former owners and even certain car builders/manufacturers who led me believe that they were setting something of a "trap" for anyone who might attempt to utilize a certain number. In each case that seemed questionable, I thought about what was the appropriate information to share. Despite a certain amount of care, there were errors that slipped through because I simply do not know it all. But, I can tell you that I know a lot more now than I did then. I believe we all know more than we used to, despite the large amount of ignorance that continues to be shown (and sometimes even promoted?) by certain individuals who really should know better by now.

I am hopeful that part of what we know and take for granted is partly because I have shared what I did in 1994 and what I've shared since then. I have been able to share because others have shared with me. The whole point was to let everyone know a bit of what was known, both "good" and "bad" without labeling any of it as one or the other. I knew that we would not all agree on what was "good" or "bad" but I thought it would be obvious that everyone had something to offer to the overall study. In that regard, I did not get the response that I hoped for, but I received some information that was completely unexpected. And certain doors opened and I learned how to get more. Some of the people we've grown to respect and disrepect have made offers but I've refused to sell the files from which the 1994 edition was derived. Almost all of the files have grown considerably since.

As "Odin" noted, not that I necessarily understand the intended meaning of everything that he has stated, some of the most desirable cars have been created and recreated and replicated for many years. It did not begin in the 1960's or 1970's or 1980's and the many confusions were not always created solely outside the "factories" that we like to consider somehow sacrosanct. The confusions created by so-called replicating and number re-use was not actually "made easier" by my lists. Those who were serious about such work were already doing their own research and doing what they were doing regardless of my lists. And the problem certainly did not begin after August of 1994, when the Italian Car Registry was published.

So, if there are those who are upset by what has appeared in the past in the one and only edition of The Italian Car Registry, then be prepared to be very upset by the next edition(s). Unfortunately, there will also be some errors and not all will be typos or errors merely of inclusion or exclusion. The errors will be the most upsetting thing to me.

Best regards.

John de Boer
The Italian Car Registry