Interest in Reviving a HIPO Registry?

I would be interested in helping as well. Are we certain that the current rights holder to Tony Gregory’s book isn’t open to us updating what has already been done? Anyone spoken to him lately? I have also been interested in writing an updated Hipo book pooling all the knowledge from this sites participants and others. Better define some of the nuances. Def open to discuss and help any way I could.

-Paul Charpentier

Someone else has the rights. Fred will know.

See this thread, Tony sold the rights to Marv Shaner RE: Please enlighten me on the K-code registry

I've been saying this for over 25 years that there needs to be some type of verification with any registry. I've lost count of how many air cars, rebodies and fraudulent VIN stamps on fender aprons and blocks I've seen. Even Bring a Trailer has more scrutiny than Tony's book or any other registry. Verification could be anything between here's a VIN and here's a VIN with pictures, an original dealer order form, invoice, build sheet, buck tag (if Metuchen). Pictures like what are found on BAT only help build the case and then there are plenty of people I would trust to verify a vehicle in person but the logistics would limit how many could be verified that way.

We could always redo the registry and set requirements for qualification, and not be as lenient as it sounds the registry has been previously. Would take time, but probably worth it to weed out the falsified cars.

has anyone spoken to Marv in recent years? I feel like I’ve seen him on here not that long ago.

This new registry is a great idea. Each owner must provide informations and documents about their Kar to be included in the registry.

I’d be open to trying to to this. We can create an email account for people to reply to. Include the necessary info to add to this new registry. And post the contact wherever we think it will get exposure. Magazines, websites, etc. would take a group effort to come up with criteria to include the car in the registry. Another option would be to include the cars that don’t necessarily have proof but have an asterisks or notation of non verified status.

Kcoderegistry@gmail.com

Norcal607 and GREXIT, the 4th edition of the HiPo registry has almost 1,500 registered cars, mine included. I forget how or when I registered it but guessing it was back around 2003 on the original HiPo Mustang site. There was definitely nothing required to verify what I registered even though I easily could have provided supporting evidence and still can today.

What is the purpose of a registry? I think it used to be to try and recreate some type of record of what Ford destroyed. Outside of that, I haven't seen any benefit.

Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that there is a financial benefit to passing one off as authentic when it isn't. I have seen several cars sold over the years with the claim "it's in the HiPo registry". Most are probably legitimate but a friend of mine who collects GM muscle cars was considering buying one last year based on that claim plus he said it had 1.12 cast into the carb, a HiPo decal on a chrome air cleaner, dual exhaust a K VIN visible on the driver apron and door tag and few other things a novice would think made it a real K. It did have real HiPo heads but that was it. Turns out the car was a converted C code and being a long time GM guy, he had no idea what to really look for.

Back to the registry, what would the purpose be? If it's to create an inventory of all the K's that were built, we will never get there. If it's be a source for authentication when buying/selling like the Shelby registry where a select few actually know the Ford VIN for each car, that would be a gargantuan (impossible) task to first validate every car and then who is legally responsible if something slips through the cracks? My opinion is that for the buy/sell scenario, people on this site could be a good source for extra eyes and opinions or in some cases personal inspections.

Ideally I think it would be nice to add to the existing registry (and verify more stringently) any cars that have been left out. I have three that are currently in the registry, before my time as a k code enthusiast. But there are definitely other cars worthy of addition. Recreating the entire regiatey would be too time consuming and I agree, it’s not really that beneficial.

I think my interest wound be to update Tony Gregory’s work which is owned by Marv now. The book could use some updating as well. As nice as it is to have all the people on this site and their knowledge, at some point we won’t be around and documenting it is the only way to keep it alive.

What a great idea, all the ideas and suggestions thrown out have merit.

The idea of validation in person is very interesting. If there are enough "experts" throughout the country, people could get an "inspection check" on the registry if validated in person. People could pay the evaluator for this service. What that fee is? I would volunteer.

The registry would be open for everyone to get in there, with the added option to get an inspection option upgrade. Kind of builds on what is already there without starting from scratch or being overloaded. We could all agree what the inspection criteria would be. Combination of paper documents and vehicle inspections.

Does anyone know what the Shelby validation process is? Who does that, and is there a charge? My guess is most people would pay a fee to get a validation check for their car. Seems would add to its value.

Does anyone have or know how to get the Gregory book? I have been looking all over, seems literally none (and I mean none) are available. Are there any electronic PDFs available? Would be nice if the book could be available or upgraded. One with more colored photos also and better technology to enhance quality.

Hi All,

I'm a bit new around here, but been into '65/66 Mustangs since the mid-1980s. Always wanted one, but just finally purchased my first K-code (K-GT coupe project) a few weeks ago. I'm pouring through the forums trying to learn stuff.

That all said, is there any update on the potential to restart the registry?

And if anyone has Tony Gregory's book(s), could someone look up and see if my Kar is in there? (I'm searching high and low for a copy of that book!!!)

Thanks!

Kevin

Fred,

Got it - thank you!

Kevin

I’m new to this site, recently purchased a 1964.5 K code convertible at a Mecum auction (ridiculous amount). The car is currently in the registry. I think having a registry is a great idea, maybe start with the 1500+ currently in the registry, and start a separate “Verified Registry”. This way people can still self register. But If you want to purchase or sell a car, it would be a bonus to a seller or insurance to a buyer to have it “Verified”. Just my 2 cents.

Lastly, I just purchased a Fourth Addition, The 289 High Performance Mustang, book off of EBay ($50 plus shipping) this week. They pop up every once in a while.

Thanks, Mike