"Rebodies"

There is a sticky thread at the top of that subforum for this purpose:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/recreations-non-period-rebodies/364788-rules-definitions.html

While not perfectly worded, I think most people here can understand what discussion belongs in here, what discussion belongs in there, and what belongs elsewhere. In fact, if I have time later on, I may draft a better version.

 

As for terminology, we all realize that a term can mean many things to many different people. Consider that any given term may have the following meanings (or more):

1. the plain meaning

This is generally the most commonly used dictionary meaning, or how that term would likely be interpreted by a lay person if isolated from context. An example would be Paul's grandmother's understanding that referring to a car as a "rebody" simply means that one body was replaced with another.​

2. a meaning established by a pattern of use

An example would be my own adopted use of the term "replidoodad" to refer to replicas that I feel are so poorly designed or executed that they can hardly be said to replicate any real automobile. People who have bothered reading my posts over the years will know what I mean when I refer to a car as a replidoodad.​

3. the meaning intended by the speaker or author

Can be determined either through context or by a directly stated intention. "You guys are a bunch of turtles. And by 'turtles', I don't mean that you're slow, but that you retreat into your shells at the first sign of danger."​

4. the customary meaning within a specific trade, community, or group

Can vary from group to group and from community to community, or even within subgroups of an overall group or community.​

Of course, what we're dealing with is #4. And even here, the meaning of certain terms varies depending on how narrowly the group or community is defined. For example, (in the U.S.) the general automotive historian/car collector community categorizes historic automobiles into the following eras:

Veteran - prior to 1890
Brass - 1890 to 1919
Antique - pre-1920 (encompasses both veteran and brass era automobiles)
Vintage - 1920 to 1930​

Our use of the term "vintage" to refer to any Ferrari automobile is confusing to collectors and historians outside of our specific little area of the automotive world, but the meaning of that term is understood by most members of the Ferrari community, and more specifically, by most F-Chat users (and the term "Enzo era" is preferred by an even more narrowly defined contingent of the Ferrari community).

In the same way, to the vintage Ferrari community, the term "rebody" used as a noun has a different and more specific meaning than the plain meaning or the broad meaning that may be assumed by a person from outside of this community. The practice of rebodying lower-tier Ferraris in order to transform them into replicas of more desireable models has been so prevalent over the years that the vintage Ferrari community commonly uses the term "rebody" to refer to cars that have fallen victim to this practice. The fact is that the number of vintage Ferraris that have been rebodied into replicas of other models is far greater than the number of vintage Ferraris that have received entirely new bodies in their original style. As a result, if one member of this community points to a car and says, "That GTO over there is a rebody," a lay person such as Paul's grandmother*, or even a member of the broader automotive community, may simply understand that the car's original body has been replaced, but members of this community will interpret the statement to mean: "Though the car in question appears to be a 250 GTO, it is in fact a less desireable Ferrari model (most commonly a PF Coupe, GTE, or 330 GT) that has been rebodied into a 250 GTO replica."


*I don't know if Paul's grandmother would consider herself a member of the automotive historian/car collector community, and more specifically, the vintage Ferrari community, but I'm assuming she would not.

 

I was thinking the same, and so I've now split the discussion off into a separate thread.

 

Sure.

The fact that the noun "rebody" is absent from Collins, Oxford, and Merriam-Webster tells us that it's a specialized term with no widely used definition. As I explained in my earlier post, while there's usually a dictionary definition of a given term, this definition often differs from the customary meanings of that term within specific trades, communities, or groups. But in this case, where no dictionary definition exists, one can only look to the specific trade, community, or group for the intended meaning.

The noun "rebody" is commonly used in this community to refer to a Ferrari that has been rebodied (the verb in the Collins definition) in the style of a more desireable Ferrari model. In other words, it's a replica based on a donor Ferrari chassis.

And this is not an "fchat defined term", as you put it. As I explained in my earlier post, the practice of rebodying less valuable Ferraris into replica GTOs, TRs, etc. has been prevalent for so long that the number of these "rebodies" far exceeds the number of Ferraris that have received entirely new bodies in their original style. So, for decades, the noun "rebody" has been used and understood to refer to these Ferrari-based replicas by most people who are active within the vintage Ferrari community--collectors, dealers, restorers, historians, enthusiasts, etc.--both conversationally as well as in print.

That said, I do consider Rob's use of the term "recreations" in the title of this subforum to be an F-Chat-defined term. The Ferrari community, and the automotive community in general, are splintered on the use of terms such as recreation, replica, reconstruction, tribute, etc., when it comes to dsescribing a car which appears to be something it is not.

 

Updated version: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/recreations-non-period-rebodies/534444-subforum-definitions-rules.html

 

What do you mean? As in replacing an entire body? A respray and upholstery? Repairing a broken turn signal stalk? Or just wiping it really clean - like with a cloth or something?

 

True.