Young car guys do stuff like this in order to try to impress people.
Sounds like the way to go.
Are really quite sure the way to go is to just not say or do anything about this guy and his car? What are you picturing from telling him he has a fake?
I’d be happy to discuss the ethics of this situation(and others) in the appropriate forum, if you wish to start a thread.
I can’t answer for Czarcasm, but if I were in his position it would be this:
If co-worker did the rebadging: Letting him know that I can tell he’s a liar, and that I don’t like being lied to.
If co-worker was suckered by a previous owner: Letting him know that he was deceived, so he can proceed accordingly.
In either case I agree with Czarcasm that this guy opened the door by his bragging and is effectively looking for a response. He may be disappointed that the response isn’t “Wow, what a cool car, you’re a righteous dude,” but he still asked for it. And in either case I would hope to not hear any further boasting from him.
Right…and the ass-beating in the parking lot that is not unlikely? The having an enemy at work?
You two can play things however you like. I have always found it more advantageous, when dealing with liars, to leave them unaware that I know of their mendacity.
To me, this situation sounds like somebody just wants tp play “embarass the braggart” and already has visions of applause and a $100% bill dancing in his head.
Where do you live such that “ass-beatings” amongst grown men are a common occurrence?
Why would you expect violence or enmity to ensue from his being advised that he’s mistaken?
Plus the GTO is still a cool car that’s fast and fun to drive!
Where do you live that they are not?
That kind of shit stopped about midway through high school. About 25 years ago is the last time I saw people have a physical fight over something. When did you last see a fight and what was it about?
About a week ago. It was over a hand of cards.
Move. That’s not normal among grownups, anywhere outside of prisons.
Exactly, I don’t get why it is necessary to do anything else to a pretty cool car to start with.
You need to get around with different people. I want to say that your experience isn’t typical, but I don’t know if it’s you or me having the atypical experience.
In the scruffy parts of scruffy towns Scumpup’s experience is pretty typical in the US at least. As are fisticuffs in the parking lot down at the mill. Male-male interaction is all about pride and “face”; disputes are frequent & escalate to violence as often as not. Generally lubricated by alcohol or the like.
Some people live fully in that milieu. Others never encounter it. There’s not a lot of overlap. Cops & EMS get to visit both sides of the tracks. Most other folks don’t.
We’ve learned where Scumpup lives and/or works. We (I at least) don’t know whether Czarcasm is in the same or the other boat. But he does.
Since it seems that the answer to the OP’s question has pretty much been answered as somewhere between VERY UNLIKELY and ABSOLUTELY NOT, I’d like to comment on how to let him know you know it’s a fake, if you feel you must.
I’d go the concerned work-friend route. Tell him you thought his car was really cool so you looked up more information on that model. You have some bad news, you think he might have been conned since they never built left hand drive versions. If you were him, you’d double check the VIN to make sure it’s a Holden. If he says he has, start asking questions about how hard it was to get a grey market car imported and titled without it getting crushed by the government.
In fact, many say it’s the car that killed Pontiac.
Jot down the VIN, and send it to a enthusiast’s group for verification.
who says that? I mean, apart from people who think they know what they’re talking about because they watched Top Gear.
The OP said he already ran the VIN through CarFax which reported that the car left the factory as an ordinary GTO.