Is It Wrong To Copy When Building??

[skinnyboy67]

Whats everyone opinon on copying others ideas when building a clean resto or pro-tour machine.Sometimes I feel like I cant be original when building,but am able to take someone elses mod.that Ive seen and loved the look of and been able to adapt it to my car.
Why do I feel weird about this?? Anyone else feel the same??
I know this is going to be followed by a bunch of sayings....
"If your not first your last..shake-n-bake!!"

[TonyL]

You don't need to be original. There's a lot of sense in seeing what works well on someone else's car and using that on yours.

[Vegas69]

It's only natural to immitate to some point. If you see something you like use it. I have taken all the ideas from this board and the other and used bits and peices from different cars and of course come up with some of my own ideas. I am doing most of my assembly as well. If you are the one picking out the small misc parts, bolts, clamps, hoses, gauges, etc. it will have your taste regardless.
Would I build exactly the same car as someone else? I think that is wrong and don't agree with it.

[phonedude_mln]

IMO "originality" is overrated; it often leads to mods for mod's sake and a mods "arms race" that eventually overcomes functionality (think of the 1980s evolution of pro street, culminating in http://www.supercars.net/garages/ChevyRocks/32v2.html ). You can already see the same thing happening with PT.

Having said that...

Everyone copies -- it is impossible not to. If something works, do it. If something looks good, do that. The best thing you can do is credit where you go the idea. If you pick up a trick from someone, tell everyone where you got it: the person you're copying will be flattered, and everyone else will be impressed with how knowledgeable you are.

[gsxrken]

What can you do to a vintage camaro or mustang that hasn't been done already somwhere? Somewhere someone would think you copied, even if you honestly didn't know you were. I'm building my car with some tweaks I've picked up over the years, but honestly not one of them is unique. Maybe when you add them all up, it'll be somewhat unique, but it's just a compilation of things I've seen before that I liked (and could afford).

[z4me69]

gsxr said it all if its a camaro or mustang you would be hard pressed to build a car with one off ideas. or what you think are original. as soon as you were done you would find a car that it's been done allready.using the same parts or mods .it all boils down to if you like somthing use it but the originality comes with the combination of the different ideas out there. it's about having fun with your car dont be one of the ones that loose that part of it because soooooo many do.

[megaladon6]

i really think the only way to be original is to build a car that no one has ever done. which means that you have to build up either a brand new car or some or some ugly-a$$ eastern european piece of junk.

[Steve1968LS2]

Most of the time when you build an "all original" most people won't like most stuff on it.

There's nothing wrong with taking different ideas from different cars and putting them together in your own way. Or by slightly tweaking the ideas of others.

[Project69]

Nope, just dont go around saying it was your idea.

[shmoov69]

I wanted to be "original" and "unique" when I built my car..........
So I went with a 69 Camaro and painted it red and put TTII's on it! LOL

[skinnyboy67]

I guess I was just thinkin that everything Ive done to my cars Ive done because I have seen it somewere else..
Not like steve who was the first guy I have seen put r888 tires on his.
Steilows the first on many...suspension..engineering
Foose on almost everything
I guess that why these guys are the innovators
We should start a thread: 1RST EVER TO DO THAT MODIFICTAION
Lets see you can put claim to fame......Can you?????

[toxicz28]

Sometimes I feel like I cant be original when building,but am able to take someone elses mod.that Ive seen and loved the look of and been able to adapt it to my car.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

[Damn True]

I strongly believe in letting other people do my R&D. I don't have the time or $$ to try to reinvent the wheel.

[BonzoHansen]

I strongly believe in letting other people do my R&D. I don't have the time or $$ to try to reinvent the wheel.

[MrQuick]

yeah don't get too over board. Theres only so much you can do with these cars anyways.
Besides when you do come up with something new theres always some wanker that will talk trash about it anyways. Your damned if you do damned if you don't. eff it, and build it to make YOU happy.

[ProdigyCustoms]

We are by no means trend setters like Stilow, Foose, etc. Being builders doing a volume of cars, and trying a lot of new things. It is no uncommon for someone to "copy" something we do. We are never upset as we figure if someone liked it enough to copy, we must have done it right.

I get a fair amount of "Did you see this" links from forum members to projects that are emulating one of our ideas. We do not hide much, in fact I post a lot of pictures and I have given many the complete recipe for how to duplicate things we have done. Most onlookers know where it came from when they see it on another car.

I will admit to getting "ideas" from other projects. It is what we do. Very rarely do I knock something off exactly. And NEVER do I knock off something real trick exactly without asking first! But there is very little we knock off 100%.

Prodigy's gas cap is a perfect example. I had thought of it, then saw it on SteveOs Camaro and it was perfect for a street fighter. After seeing that we were convinced we had to have it. But we had another idea to countersink (french) the cap more like a Viper. Then another real well known car showed up with the cap, (same artist LONG after our rendering) but they did not french it in. People were like, Aren't you pissed! Obviously it was stolen from you! We were like, whatever, it looked horrible very stuck on. It actually turned out to be a very important lesson early in young Michael's car building career.


"Plagiarism is the purest form of flattery"

"If your not making anyone jealous, your not doing something right"

"If no one copy's you, you didn't do it right"

"If no one hates it, you didn't try hard enough"

So copy away, but be a gentlemen and give credit where credit is due!

[vanzuuk1]

Gm designers looked at these mercedes when designing a certain car, anyone see what they borrowed?

[rocketman]

It doesn't matter what you build, street rods, pro touring, pro street, someone else has already done it. So it's not really copying. I take ideas of cars I see and put into my builds..... At some point everyone copies someone else

[hdesign]

I'm always excited to see something I designed get copied, I feel vindicated....as long as they are not trying to claim they "pioneered" something really obvious.

[Bill Howell]

Gm designers looked at these mercedes when designing a certain car, anyone see what they borrowed?

C1 vette front fender?