Two conundrums for you. An in period but non factory spec formula junior and a sports car chassis not mentioned on factory records at all but with paperwork supporting a claim to be the genuine article. Are they classic racers? Should we even bother to ask the question?

First up is the Lotus 20/22 of Neil McCrudden. A lovely car beautifully presented but with a later F3 type rear suspension set up. It looks very similar to the later spec Lotus 41 arrangement. When I asked Neil about this he said that it was probably done quite early in its career when in the hands of the Renmax team. The conundrum here is that this general arrangement is in period (Brabham and Lola Juniors used a version of it), but no Lotus 20 or 22 ever left the factory with it. A car of this age has many tales to tell. What price originality? If you remove the features that make it unique as an historic item then you remove its uniqueness and diminish its story.

The second conundrum is a rare barn find. A Tojiero chassis frame never built as a complete car, but with enough there to finish the job many years later. It doesn’t have a chassis number, (Tojiero only bothered with them on factory assembled cars), but it comes with paper-work indicating that it is the real thing. The bodywork armature that comes with it is more Ferrari than Tojo. The photo’s with it show a GMC 6 cylinder engine being fitted up. Nothing out of period here. It’s will end up as more than a replica but less than a genuine historic racer. Who would refuse it?