There’s a big difference between a fake and a replica. The former has all sorts of negative connotations attached to it, and usually implies that while said product may resemble the original, at first, it definitely fails to deliver the same kind of experience once it starts getting used.
The latter, however, can mean a millimeter-perfect copy of a product, and aside from the originality factor being equal to naught, it should work pretty much as intended. Of course, creating an exact replica of a car, both in styling and engineering, is practically impossible.
Calling the seventeen “Ferraris” (and two “Aston Martins”) that were seized from an illegal manufacturing operation in Spain, which converted run-of-the-mill motors into “supercars,” actual Ferraris and Aston Martins would really be unfair.
Eight people were arrested in connection with the racket, after police raided two locations in the city of Valencia. There, they found fiberglass molds, and a bunch of cars, which to the uninitiated may have looked like accurate reproductions, but from what we see in the few photos that we have available, they would not have fooled people who are even the least bit interested in cars…
The fakes cost around €40,000 ($53,000) and were clearly not worth it – besides, for that kind of money, you can get a proper, actual Ferrari from the 80s or 90s, and at least be glad that you are at the wheel of the real thing, and not a rebadged Toyota, finished in Rosso Corsa red.
By Andrei Nedelea
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