A charity organization recently asked me to look at two 1930s Auburns that they had been offered for a tax write-off. I was quite excited, especially when I was told that they were boat-tails, although I did have some doubts about their authenticity.

Having once been surprised by a garage door opening to reveal 12 Mercedes gull wings and roadsters that I had never heard of, and were about five minutes from my shop, I am willing to believe that anything is possible.

But this time, when the garage door swung open to reveal the Auburns, my worst fears were revealed. They were fibreglass boat-tail replicas with modern V-8s and, horrifyingly, four seats.

While some may think them attractive, the purist or well-informed realize what an abomination they are, compared with the originals. Many of the great car designs of the last century have been parodied by earnest but untalented car builders who hope to get rich from their counterfeits.

One of the most copied cars of all time is the original Cobra, Carroll Shelby's marriage of a British AC roadster body with an American Ford V-8. Literally dozens, perhaps hundreds, of small companies sprang up all over North America creating fibreglass reproductions of the Cobra.

Some, like the Canadian-produced Aurora, manufactured in the 1980s, were actually as good as or even better than the original, but most are badly made and even more badly engineered examples of what amounts to shade-tree productions.

In the late eighties there were three small companies in Barrie, Ont., alone, creating these monstrosities. Fortunately, most of the small producers rarely made more than one or two and some did not even get that far.

Other cars that have been commonly desecrated are the Lamborghini Countach and many of Ferrari's masterpieces. The 1980s crime drama Miami Vice used a replica of a Ferrari Daytona on the show. Ferrari sued the manufacturer of the Daytona replicas and the show received a real white Testarossa to replace the fake Daytona, which was blown to pieces on camera.

In many cases, these cars are poorly made but for the most part not dangerous. Kit cars, however, are an even lower-budget version of the counterfeit car, and can be very dangerous as they are often assembled by people who have no clear understanding of the physics and engineering involved with the automobile.

Kit cars and hot rods rank as my picks for what can often be the two most dangerous forms of transport on the highway.

There are many kits that just do cosmetic changes to existing cars like those that turn a Pontiac Fiero into a Ferrari. While I don't like the results, at least the changes are just cosmetic and the structure and platform remain intact.

But others, like some of the Lamborghini Countach kits, are just dangerous with inexperienced garage builders tasked with designing steering and suspensions systems cobbled from whatever they can afford. I have seen one of these so badly designed that a driver's foot could be caught between the brake pedal and a steering column joint depending on which way the car was being turned.

One of the greatest troubles is that the small and inexperienced companies that produce these kits are usually composed of people who know very little about the world of car manufacturing, engineering or research and development, and aren't clear on why a properly designed hand built car like a Lamborghini should cost $250,000.

Their attempts to recreate it usually result in bankruptcy for themselves and what few kits they provide are sold to people who may have always wanted a Ferrari but can't afford one.

The truth is that few real car enthusiasts would give any kit car the time of day so there is little guidance for those who think that it's a cheap way to have the world believe they can afford a rare or exotic car.

Those that do buy them are often short on knowledge but high on ego and this often makes for cars that are inordinately dangerous to the rest of us on the road.

You also have to feel sorry for the owner of a $200,000 Auburn Speedster or $300,000 Cobra when they are constantly asked about their kit car or worse, assaulted by people who want to tell them all about Uncle Clem's home-made Cobra with the high-performance Toyota motor inside.

David Grainger owns an automotive restoration company