In my opinion, it takes a guy pretty comfortable with himself to drive a car everybody thinks of as a fake. Generally, the people who think of them that way also think we are trying to pass a counterfeit off as the real thing. I'm not.
There are no doubt owners who are in this to impress or fool other people-- but the vast majority of us are content to enjoy what we've got, regardless of what anybody else thinks.
I've got an Intermeccanica. I bought it because it ticked more of the boxes that were important to me than other cars that were available at the time. I've got no Porsche badges on it. I've got zero interest in anything that might give the impression that I think I'm better than anybody else because I own it. When people ask me what it is, I'll sometimes tell them it's "a plastic fantastic". I'll always talk it down. It's super-cool to me, other people can take it or leave it.
I really like the democratic nature of this site. At the bottom of the well-- we all derive some perverse enjoyment in owning and operating something that almost nobody "gets". I've got no interest in dividing an already tiny hobby into some sort of pecking order.
What I own is essentially an overpriced dune-buggy-- a plastic Shriner clown-car powered by a fancy lawn equipment engine. A registry for it interests me about the same amount as a registry for Toro lawn-mower owners.
