Authentic

Authentic (pronounced aw-then-tik)

(1) Something not false or copied; genuine; real.

(2) Having an origin supported by unquestionable evidence; authenticated; verified: with certified provenance.

(3) Representing one’s true nature or beliefs; true to oneself or to the person identified.

(4) Entitled to acceptance or belief because of agreement with known facts or experience; reliable; trustworthy.

(5) In law, executed with all due formalities; conforming to process.

(6) In music (of a church mode and most often applied to the Gregorian chant), having a range extending from the final to the octave above.

(7) In music (of a cadence), progressing from a dominant to a tonic chord.

(8) In musical performance, using period instruments and historically researched scores and playing techniques in an attempt to perform a piece as it would have been played at the time it was written (or in certain cases, first performed).

(9) Authoritative; definitive (obsolete).

1300–1350: From the Middle English authentik & autentik (authoritative, duly authorized (a sense now obsolete)), from the Old French autentique (authentic; canonical (from which thirteenth century Modern French gained authentique)), from the Late Latin authenticus (the work of the author, genuine ( which when used as a neuter noun also meant “an original document, the original”), from the Ancient Greek αὐθεντικός (authentikós) (original, primary, at first hand), the construct being αὐθέντης (authéntēs) (lord, master; perpetrator (literally, “one who does things oneself; one who acts independently (the construct being aut(o-) (self-) + -hentēs (doer)) + -ikos (–ic) (the adjective suffix)), from the primitive Indo-European root sene- (to accomplish, to achieve).  The alternative spellings authentical, authentick, authenticke & authentique are all archaic.  Authentic is an adjective (and a non-standard noun), authentically is an adverb, authenticity & authentification are nouns, authenticate, authenticating & authenticated are verbs; the most common noun plural is authentifications.

The modern sense of something “real, entitled to acceptance as factual” emerged in the mid-fourteenth century and synonyms (depending on context) include true, veritable, genuine, real, bonafide, bona fide, unfaked, reliable, trustworthy, credible & unfaked.  As antonyms (the choice of which will be dictated by context and sentence structure) the derived adjectives include: non-authentic, inauthentic & unauthentic (the three usually synonymous but nuances can be constructed depending on the context) and the curious quasi-authentic, used presumably to suggest degrees of fakeness, sincerity etc).  Inauthentic from 1783 is the most often used and thus presumably the preferred form and in this it competes also with phony, fake, faux, bogus, imitation, clone, impersonation, impression, mimic, parody, reflection, replica, tribute, reproduction, apery, copy, counterfeit, ditto, dupe, duplicate, ersatz, forgery, image, likeness, match, mime, mimesis, mockery, parallel, resemblance, ringer, semblance, sham, simulacrum, simulation, emulation, takeoff, ripoff, transcription, travesty, Xerox, aping, carbon copy, echo, match, mirror, knockoff, paraphrasing, parroting, patterning, representation & replica & the rare ingenuine.  The verb authenticate (verify, establish the credibility of) dates from the 1650s and was from the Medieval Latin authenticatus, the past participle of authenticare, from the Late Latin authenticus; the form of use in the mid seventeenth century was sometimes “render authentic”.  The noun authenticity (the quality of being authentic, or entitled; acceptance as to being true or correct) dates from the 1760 and replaced the earlier authentity (1650s) & authenticness (1620s).

Beware of the inauthentic: The authentic Lindsay Lohan (left) and the Grand Theft Auto's (GTA 5) ersatz (right), a mere "generic young woman".

Concurring with the 2016 ruling of the New York County Supreme Court which, on appeal, also found for the game’s makers (Take-Two, aka Rockstar) , the judges, as a point of law, accepted the claim a computer game’s character "could be construed a portrait", which "could constitute an invasion of an individual’s privacy" but, on the facts of the case, the likeness was "not sufficiently strong".  The “… artistic renderings are an indistinct, satirical representation of the style, look and persona of a modern, beach-going young woman... that is not recognizable as the plaintiff" Judge Eugene Fahey wrote in his ruling.  Judge Fahey's words recalled those of Potter Stewart (1915–1985; associate justice of the US Supreme Court 1958-1981) when in Jacobellis v Ohio (378 U.S. 184 (1964) he wrote: “I shall not today attempt further to define… and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so.  But I know it when I see it…”  Judge Fahey knew a basic white girl when he saw one; he just couldn't name her.  Lindsay Lohan's lawyers did not seek leave to appeal.

The game’s developers may have taken the risk of incurring Lindsay Lohan’s wrath and indignation because they’d been lured into a false sense of security by Crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947; US secretary of state 2009-2013) not filing a writ after a likeness of her appeared on GTA 4’s (2008) Statue Of Happiness which stands on Happiness Island, just off the coast of Liberty City.  The Statue of Happiness was a blatant knock-off of the New York’s Statue of Liberty and crooked Hillary became a determined and acerbic critic of Rockstar and the GTA franchise after the “Hot Coffee” scandal.  That controversy arose after modders promulgated a code which in GTA: San Andreas’ release (2004) unlocked a hidden “mini-game” which allowed players to control explicit on-screen sex acts.  Men having sex with women with whom they don’t enjoy benefit of marriage is a bit of a sore point with crooked Hillary, then a US senator (Democrat-NY), who embarked on a campaign for new regulations be imposed on the industry and the most immediate consequence was the SSRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) launching an investigation, subsequently raising GTA: San Andreas’ rating from “M” (Mature) to “AO” (Adults Only 18) until the objectionable content was removed.  For those who wondered if the frightening visage on the GTA 4 statute really was what some suspected, the object’s file name was “stat_hilberty01.wdr”.

Roskstar's Statue Of Happiness in GTA 4 (2008, left) and an official photograph of crooked Hillary Clinton (right). 

Rockstar seeking vengeance was understandable because crooked Hillary’s moral crusade proved tiresome for the company.  Once the ESRB had been nudged into action, crooked Hillary petitioned the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) to (1) find the source of the game's “graphic pornographic and violent content”, (2) determine if it should be slapped with an AO rating and (3) “examine the adequacy of the retailers' rating enforcement policies.”  Not content, she then announced she’d be sponsoring in the Senate a bill for an act which would make it a federal crime (with a mandatory US$5,000 fine) to sell to anyone under 18, violent or sexually explicit video games; the Family Entertainment Protection Act was filed on 17 December 2005 and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, where quietly it was allowed to expire.

While the act slowly was being strangled in committee hearings, the FTC and Rockstar reached a settlement, the commission ruling the company had violated the Federal Trade Commission Act (1914) by failing to disclose the inclusion of “unused, but potentially viewable” explicit content” (that it was enabled by a third party was held to be “not relevant”).  The settlement required Rockstar “clearly and prominently disclose on product packaging and in any promotion or advertisement for electronic games, content relevant to the rating, unless that content had been disclosed sufficiently in prior submissions to the rating authority” with violations punishable by a fine of up to US$11,000.  In the spirit of the now again fashionable Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933; US president 1923-1929) era capitalism, no fine was imposed for the “Hot Coffee incident”, presumably because the company had already booked a US$24.5 million loss from the product recall earlier mandated.

Real & fake appears as simple and obvious a dichotomy as black & white but humanity has managed over the millennia to create many grey areas in many shades, thus the wealth of antonyms and synonyms for “authentic”.  Authentic now carries the connotation of an authoritative confirmation (which can be formalized as a process which culminates with the issue of a “certificate of authenticity” although the usefulness of that of course depends on the issuing authority being regarded as authentic.  Genuine carries a similar meaning but in a less formalized sense and in some fields (such as the art market), something can simultaneously be genuine yet not authentic (a painting might for example be a genuine seventeenth century oil on canvas work yet not be the Rembrandt it was represented to be; it’s thus not authentic).  The word real is probably the most simple term of all and can often be used interchangeably but unless what’s being described is unquestionable “real” in every sense, more nuanced words may be needed.  Veritable was from the Middle French veritable, from the Old French veritable, from the Latin veritabilis, from vēritās (truth), the construct being vērus (true; real) +‎ -tās (the suffix used to form abstract nouns).  The traditional of use in English however means veritable had become an expression of admiration (eg “she is a veritable saint”) rather than a measure of truthfulness or authenticity.

Other nuances also organically have evolved.  Authentic now implies the contents of the thing in question correspond to the facts and are not fictitious while genuine implies that whatever is being considered is something unadulterated from its original form although what it contains may in some way be inauthentic.  This is serviceable and as long as it’s not used in a manner likely to mislead is a handy linguistic tool but as Henry Fowler (1858–1933) noted in his A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926), it was an artificial distinction, “…illustrated by the fact that, “genuine” having no verb of its own, “authenticate” serves for both”.

Degrees of authenticity: 2016 Jaguar XKSS (continuation series)

In 2016 Jaguar displayed the first of nine XKSS "continuation" models.  In 1957, Jaguar had planned a run of 25 XKSSs which were road-going conversions of the Le Mans-winning D-type (1954-1956).  Such things were possible in those happier, less regulated times.  However, nine of the cars earmarked for export to North America were lost in fire so only 16 were ever completed.  These nine, using the serial numbers allocated in 1957 are thus regarded as a "continuation of the original run" to completion, Jaguar insisting it is not "cloning itself".  The project was well-received and the factory subsequent announced it would also continue the production run of the lightweight E-Types, again using the allocated but never absorbed ID numbers.  Other manufacturers, including Aston Martin, have embarked on their own continuation programmes and at a unit cost in excess of US$1 million, it's a lucrative business.

In the upper (or at least the most obsessional) reaches of the collector car market, the idea of “authenticity” is best expressed as “originality”.  As early as the 1950s when the market began to the process of assuming its present form, originality was valued because many of the pre-war machines first to attract interest (Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Lagonda et al from the UK, Duisenberg, Stutz, Cadillac et al from the US and Mercedes-Benz, Isotta Fraschini, Bugatti et al from Europe) had over the years receive different coachwork from that which was originally supplied.  At the time however, the contemporary records suggest that if a rakish new body had replaced something dowdy, it was a matter for comment rather than objection.  Nor were replacement engines and transmissions thought objectionable as long as they replicated the originals, there then being an understanding things wear out.  Those mechanical components were however among the first to come to the attention of the originality police and “matching numbers” became a thing, every stamped component with a serial number (engine blocks & heads, transmission cases, differential housings etc) which could be verified against factory records, made a car more collectable and thus more valuable.  It was a matter of originality which came to matter, not functionality which mattered; a newer, better engine detracted from the value.  In some cases originality was allowed to be a shifting concept especially with vehicles used in competition; if a Ferrari was found to be on its third engine, that was fine as long as each swap was performed, in period, by the factory or its racing team.

That exception aside, it’s now very different and, all else being equal, the most authentic collectable of its type is the one most original.  These days collectors will line up their possessions in rows to be judged by “certified judges” who, clipboards in hand will peak and poke, ticking or crossing the boxes as they go.  They’re prepared to concede the air in the tyres, the fuel in the tank and the odd speck of dust on the carpet may not be what was there when first the thing left the factory but points will be deducted for offenses such as incorrect screw heads, or a hose clap perhaps being installed clockwise rather than anti-clockwise.  Sometimes a variation from the original can’t be detected, even by a certified judge.  If a component (without a verifiable serial number) has been replaced with a genuine factory part number, if done properly that will often get a tick whereas a reproduction part from a third-party manufacturer will often have some barely discernible difference and thus get a cross.

An Elite Marti Report including the factory option list and door data plate info, reproductions of the door data plate & window sticker and personalized production statistics.  All these are supplied mounted on a board (in Ford matte blue) installed in a 16 x 20 inch (405 x 508 mm)" black frame.

Given the money which churns around the market, there’s a bit of an informal industry in faking authenticity and with some vehicles it is actually technically possible exactly to take a mundane version of something and emulate a more desirable model; the difference in value potentially in the millions.  In some cases however, even if technically possible, it may be functionally not: If it’s notorious that only ten copies were produced of a certain model and all have for decades been accounted for, it’s not plausible to possess an eleventh. However, there are instances where the combination of (1) the factory not maintaining the necessary records and (2) the vehicle itself not being fitted with the requisite stampings or identification plates to determine exactly what options may originally have been fitted.  However, even if documented and thus "authenticated", there can still be pitfalls.  In the collectable market for vehicles (Ford, Lincoln & Mercury) produced in the US by the Ford Motor Company (FoMoCo) between 1967-2017, the gold standard is the service offered by mechanical engineer Kevin Marti's (b 1957) Marti Auto Works.  That company has been licensed by FoMoCo to generate reports detailing the specification (mechanical, trim, options) on the day it left the factory, all data grabbed directly from Ford's databases.  Available at three price-point (Standard, Deluxe & Elite), a Marti report is a valuable resource for both buyers and sellers.  However, what the reports provide is what is in the database and that reflects the specification with which a vehicle should have been built and while the phrase "Monday & Friday cars" (popularized by Arthur Hailey's (1920-2004) novel Wheels (1971)) shouldn't be taken literally, its currency in the era was an indication mistakes did happen on car production lines and, given the factories were every day producing them in the thousands, that should not be a surprise.  QC (quality control) inspections meant many E&O (errors and omissions) were rectified but some did slip through and while most were minor enough to be corrected by dealers, if the buyer was content to be appeased with a partial refund or credit, a vehicle could enter the wild with a specification in some way different from what was recorded in FoMoCo's database.  Only a comparatively tiny number of such vehicles each year appeared but if a vehicle represented as "original" or "matching numbers" varies in some detail from the authoritative Marti Report, a seller will benefit if in possession of additional explanatory documents.  Interestingly, the Marti Auto Works service is available because FoMoCo kept their old records in archives whereas Chrysler and General Motors (GM) did not.  

An authentic 1967 Chevrolet SS 427.

Because of the way the data details were recorded on the tags attached to Chevrolet’s vehicles during this era it can be difficult for collectors always to verify a car as presented is in quite the form it was when first it emerged from the factory.  Quite a few 1967 Impalas have been modified to “become” and SS 427 and it can take an expert to authenticate the real thing, the difference between one and another meaning tens of thousands of dollars in value.  Fortunately, there are many experts and they are needed to distinguish between the clones and the real SS 427s (the model achieving 2,124 sales in 1967, 1,778 in 1968 and 2,455 in its swansong season in 1969.  The 1967 Chevrolet SS 427 is now a collectable but it’s also a pedant’s delight because (1) although Impala-based it’s not by most treated as an Impala (this is contested) and (2) there was also a 1967 Impala SS 427 which is similar but not identical; technically, the SS 427 was a full-sized Chevrolet with RPO (regular production option) Z24.  With that volume the things, in collector terms, were not especially rare but the ecosystem of Chevrolet’s full-sized SS range was by then in decline; from a peak of almost 240,000 SS Impalas in 1969, volumes just two years later had fallen by some 80% as customer interest shifted to the smaller, lighter pony cars and intermediates.  It was a trend affecting all manufacturers and even before the muscle car era ended, the high-performance, full-sized segment would go extinct.

An authentic 1967 Chevrolet SS 427 cockpit.

Chevrolet’s SS (Super Sport) option was released in 1961 as a bundle available for Impalas with high-performance V8s: it featured both suspension modifications and dress-up items including unique body and interior trim, power steering, power brakes with sintered metallic linings, full wheel covers with a three blade spinner, a passenger grab bar, a console for the floor shift, and a tachometer on the steering column.  In that year, Chevrolet built close to half a million Impalas but only 453 buyers opted for what was (at US$53.80) the bargain-priced SS package, an indication the marketing needed to be tweaked.  The problem was that Chevrolet had intended the 1961 SS live up to its name and it was available only with the 348 & 409 cubic inch (5.7 & 6.7 litre) V8s which could be quite raucous and were notably thirstier than many were prepared to tolerate.  The dealers noted how buyers were drawn to the style but were put off by the specification which demanded much more from the driver that the smaller-engined models which wafted effortlessly along, automatic transmissions by now the default choice for most Impala buyers.

So the sales barrier was the implication of the costs attached to the SS bundle rather than the attractiveness.  The headline number of US$53.80 actually included only the "spinner" wheel covers, SS badges, a shiny floor plate for the four-speed's shifter and a Corvette-style grab-bar for the glove-box (Ralph Nadar (b 1934) noted that one).  However, ticking the SS option box triggered a list of "mandatory options" (a seeming oxymoron Detroit came to adore) including wider tyres (with compulsory narrow-band whitewalls), PAS & PB, (power assisted steering & power brakes), LPO (Limited Production Option) 1108 (Police Handling Package, a bundle including HD (heavy-duty) suspension components and sintered metallic brake linings), a steering column mounted 7000 rpm tachometer and a padded dashboard (the last unlikely much to impress Mr Nader).  Having agreed to pay for all that, the buyer then had to decide whether to opt (at progressively increasing cost) for the 348 (with 305, 340 or 350 horsepower (HP)) or 409 (360 HP).  The Powerglide two-speed  automatic transmission was available only with the mildest of the 348s, further limiting the sales potential, the three or four-speed manual otherwise obligatory.  In 1961, it was much more expensive to buy a SS Chevrolet than the US$53.80 on the brochure suggested and however pleasing, it was a long way removed from Chevrolet's traditional place as the low-priced rung on the "Sloan ladder".  The decision was thus taken for 1962 to make the "show" available without the "go" and the SS became an "appearance package", available with even six-cylinder engines.  Sales skyrocketed and between 1962-1969 some 920,000 SS packages were sold for the full-sized line.   

An authentic 1967 Chevrolet SS 427.

GM had noted the dress-up bits were just Chevrolet part-numbers which could be ordered by dealers, some of which received customer requests separately to fit the trim pieces so some 1961 Impalas did to some extent resemble the SS cars though without the high-performance equipment.  It was therefore clear there were more buyers who wanted their Impala to look like a a fast one than were able or prepared to pay for the experience and Chevrolet’s “SS appearance package” proved influential, the approach becoming a a template for the whole industry, spreading internationally, the Porsche 911T Lux (1972-1973 and the mix of the entry level 911T with the trim fittings of the high-performance 911S) an example of the technique.  Thus from 1962 the SS option became widely available and consisted of bling and accessories, able to be ordered with even the most modest engines.  Splitting the market between drag-strip monsters and boulevard cruisers which could be made to look much the same proved a great success.

An authentic 1967 Chevrolet SS 427.

Starting in 1967, beyond the standard-issue SS models, buyers could also choose the SS 427 model (RPO Z24) but confusingly, an Impala SS could be ordered with the 427 cubic inch (7.0 litre) V8 a situation which continued until the 1969 model year when, according to Chevrolet, only the SS 427 was available despite the company that year adding the “Impala” badges not used on the SS 427s in 1967 & 1968.  It’s little wonder the big-bodied 427s of those three years confuse many.  The flavours of the 427 V8 offered over the years also bounced around: For 1967, only the 385 horsepower (HP) L36 was available, the choice the next year extended to the L36 (390 HP) & L72 (425 HP), that pair augmented in 1969 by the LS1 (335 HP).  Curiously a triple-carburetor option had been scheduled to appear on the 1967 SS 427 (and the Camaro) but both were cancelled after one of GM’s many corporate edicts, the three simulated stacks on the hood (bonnet) a relic of the late change of plans.

Rear-seat "leaping impala" emblem in an authentic 1967 Chevrolet SS 427.

According to Chevrolet's fall 1966 brochure the SS 427 was: “The ’67 Super Sports by Chevrolet” which sounds definitive but whether the 1967 & 1968 SS 427s are really Impalas still is discussed between two factions but it’s something like the 1948 debate about the existence of God between British Jesuit priest & historian of philosophy Frederick Copleston (1907–1994) and noted atheist, British mathematician & philosopher Bertrand Russell (Third Earl Russell, 1872–1970): When someone with a sincere belief debates with someone with a sincere lack of belief, opinions are unlikely to change.  One faction argues that because no “Impala” badge appears anywhere on the 1967-1968 cars then obviously they're not Impalas while the other points out that in every other aspect they're obviously Impalas before playing their trump card: the stylized “leaping impala” emblem, prominently which sits in the middle of the rear seat.  So it’s a matter of whether “symbol trumps (lack of) text” which seems one of the industry’s more sterile debates though it has never gone away and that the Impala badge returned for 1969 presumably can be interpreted to afforce the theories of either side.  Nothing in the VIN (vehicle identification number) reflects whether a full-size Chevrolet is a SS 427 or another model so an original build sheet and/or window sticker with the vital Z24 reference will be the best evidence.  There are now many 1967-1969 SS 427 "clones" (fake, faux, tribute, reproduction & replica the other terms used depending on circumstances and claims asserted) and the authentication of what's genuine and what's not is a minor industry in the collector market. 

Authenticity in art 

Christ with the Woman Taken in Adultery (1942), oil on canvas by Han van Meegeren (1889–1947) following Vermeer (1632-1675).

The matter of authenticity is obviously important in the art market.  Usually the critical factor is the identity of the artist.  In May 1945, immediately after the liberation from Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, the authorities arrested Dutch national Han van Meegeren (1889–1947) and charged him with collaborating with the enemy, a capital crime.  Evidence had emerged that van Meegeren had during World War II (1939-1945) sold Vermeer's Christ with the Woman Taken in Adultery to Hermann Göring (1893–1946; prominent Nazi 1922-1945, Reichsmarschall 1940-1945).  His defense was as novel as it was unexpected: He claimed the painting was not a Vermeer but rather a forgery by his own hand, pointing out that as he had traded the fake for over a hundred other Dutch paintings purchased (frequently transactions of dubious legality) earlier by the Reichsmarschall, he was thus a national hero rather than a Nazi collaborator.  The judges were sceptical but, in the court, he provided a practical demonstration of his skill, added to his admission having forged five other fake "Vermeers" during the 1930s, as well as two "Pieter de Hoochs" all of which had shown up on European art markets since 1937.  He convinced the court and was acquitted but was then, as he expected, charged with forgery for which he received a one year sentence, half the maximum available to the court.  He died in prison of heart failure, brought on by years of drug and alcohol abuse.

His skills with brush and paint aside, Van Meegeren was able successfully to pass off his 1930s fakes as those of the seventeenth century painter of the Dutch baroque, Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675), because of the four years he spent meticulously testing the techniques by which a "new" painting could be made to look centuries old.  The breakthrough was getting the oil-based paints thoroughly to harden, a process which naturally occurs over fifty-odd years.  His solution was to mix the pigments not with oil but the synthetic resin Bakelite.  For his canvases, he used genuine but worthless seventeenth-century paintings, removing as much of the picture as possible, scrubbing carefully with pumice and water, taking the utmost care not to lose the network of cracks, the existence of which would play a role in convincing many expert appraisers they were authentic Vermeers.  Once dry, he baked the canvas and rubbed a carefully concocted mix of ink and dust into the edges of the cracks, emulating the dirt which would, over centuries, accumulate.

Authentically guilty as sin: Hermann Göring in the dock, Nuremberg, 1946.

Modern x-ray techniques and chemical analysis mean such tricks can no longer succeed but, at the time, so convincing were his fakes no doubts were expressed and the dubious Christ with the Woman Taken in Adultery became Göring's most prized acquisition, quite something given the literally thousands of pieces of art he looted from Europe.  One of the Allied officers who interrogated Göring in Nuremberg prison prior to his trial (1945-1946) recorded that the expression on his face when told "his Vermeer" was a fake suggested that "...for the first time Göring realized there really was evil in this world".

So the identity of the painter matters, indeed, between 1968-2014, there was a standing institution called the Rembrandt Research Project (RRP), an initiative of the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (the NOW; the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research), the charter of which included authenticating all works attributed to the artist (Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669).  That was a conventional approach to authentication but there are others.  In the West there’s a long standing distinction between “high art” and “popular art” but not all cultures have that distinction and when the output of artists from those cultures is commoditised, what matters is ethnicity.  In Australia, the distinctive paintings categorized as “indigenous art” have become popular and are a defined market segment and what determines their authenticity is that they are legitimately and exclusively the work of indigenous artists.  The styles, of which dot painting is the best known, are technically not challenging to execute and thus easy to replicate by anyone and this has caused where non-indigenous hands have been found (or alleged) to be involved in the process.

The Times (London), 8 March 1997.

In 1997, Elizabeth Durack (1915–2000), a Western Australian disclosed that the much acclaimed works of the supposed indigenous artist “Eddie Burrup” had actually been painted by her in her studio, Eddie Burrup her pseudonym.  To make matters worse, prior to her revelation, some of the works had been included in exhibitions of Indigenous Australian art.  Although noted since the 1980s, the phrase “cultural appropriation” wasn’t then widely used outside of academia of activist communities but what Ms Durack did was a classic example of a representative of a dominant culture appropriating aspects of marginalized or minority cultures for some purpose.  Sometimes (perhaps intentionally) misunderstood, the critical part of cultural appropriation is the relationship between the hegemonic and the marginal; a white artist creating work in the style of an indigenous, colonized people and representing it in a manner which suggests it’s the product of an indigenous artist is CA.  Condoleezza Rice (b 1954; US secretary of state 2005-2009) playing Chopin on a Steinway is not; that’s cultural assimilation.  Once the truth was known, the works were removed from many galleries where they had hung and presumably the critical acclaim they had once received was withdrawn.  Both responses were of course correct.  Had Ms Durack represented the works as her own and signed them thus that would have been cultural appropriation and people could have responded as they wished but to represent them as the works of someone with a name all would interpret as that of an indigenous artist was both cultural appropriation and deceptive & misleading conduct with all that that implies.

One of the photographs run by the Murdoch-owned daily newspaper The Australian in a report on the involvement of white people in the production of "indigenous paintings", April 2023.

More recently, there have been accusations white staff employed in a commercial gallery where indigenous Australian artists are employed to create paintings have been influenced, assisted or interfered with (depending on one’s view) in the production process.  According to the stories run in the Murdoch press, a white staff member was filmed suggesting some modification to an artist although whether this was thought to be on artistic grounds or an attempt to make something more resemble "what sells best" isn’t clear.  However, in a sense the motive doesn’t matter because the mere intervention detracts from the authenticity of the product, based as it is not on the inherent artistic merit but on the artist being indigenous.  In that the case was conceptually little different from Göring’s “Vermeer” which for years countless experts in fine art had acclaimed as a masterpiece while it hung in Carinhall, an opinion not repeated as soon as its dubious provenance was revealed.  Nor is it wholly dissimilar to the case of the replica 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO which is essentially a carbon copy of one of the 40-odd originals made (indeed it was in some ways technical superior) yet it is worth US$1.2 million while the record price for a genuine one was US$70 million.  So for a product to be thought authentic can depend on (1) that it was created by a certain individual, (2) that it was created by a member of a certain defined ethnicity or (3) that it was created by a certain institution.

Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World, circa 1505), oil on walnut by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519).

In art, authenticity is precious in more than one sense.  Salvator Mundi, the critics admit, is not an exceptional painting but once authenticated as the work of Leonardo, it created its own exceptionalism, in 2017 becoming the most expensive painting ever sold at public auction, attracting US$450 million when offered by Christie's auction house in New York.  The criteria for assessing the works of indigenous artists is also beneficial for them because unlike mainstream art, they’re not assessed as good or bad but merely as authentically indigenous or not.  That’s why there are no bad reviews of indigenous art or performance because (1) the concept is irrelevant, (2) such an idea is claimed to be alien to indigenous peoples and (3) if expressed by white critics would represent the imposition of a Western cultural construct on a marginalized group.  Dot paintings and such are marketed through the structures of the art market because physically they’re similar objects (size, weight etc) to other paintings but they’re really modern, mass-produced artefacts which depend on provenance as much as a Chevrolet SS 427, Ferrari 250 GTO, Leonardo or Vermeer.

Peradventure

Peradventure (pronounced pur-uhd-ven-cher (U) or per-add-ven-chur (non-U)

(1) Chance, doubt or uncertainty (rare & archaic).

(2) Surmise (obsolete).

(3) It may be; perchance or maybe; possibly; perhaps (a definitely obsolete adverb).

1250–1300: From the Middle English peraventure, & per aventure, from Old French par aventure, the spelling in English modified in the seventeenth century to emulate Latin, providing a gloss of classical respectability.  The earliest form (circa 1300) was per aventure, paradventure adopted in the fourteenth and peradventure (sometimes in the old form as peraduenture) the final change.  Adventure evolved from the Middle English aventure, aunter & anter, from the Old French aventure, from the Late Latin adventurus, from the Latin advenire & adventum (to arrive), which in the Romance languages took the sense of "to happen, befall".  Aventure was from the Vulgar Latin adventura, from the Late Latin adventurus, from the Classical Latin adventus, the construct being adveniō (arrive) +‎ -tus (the action noun–forming suffix).  Peraventure is a noun & adverb, the noun plural is peradventures.

Peradventure in the sense of “chance, doubt or uncertainty” is both rare and archaic, a combination characterizing those words Henry Fowler (1858–1933) in his A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) listed as archaisms, words he suggested were “…dangerous except in the hands of an experienced writer who can trust his sense of congruity”, adding that the use of archaisms was “…more likely to irritate the reader than to please…” and the word does seem to appear when people seek either (1) variety, (2) a flourish or (3) a display of their “pride of knowledge”, one of the many linguistic habits of Henry Fowler damned.  Peradventure means “chance, doubt or uncertainty” (the other meanings wholly obsolete) and is used in the forms “beyond peradventure” & “beyond a peradventure”, the more usual ways of expressing the sentiment including “beyond question” & “without doubt”. 

The reason it should be avoided in normal discourse is that unlike some deliberate archaisms, (such as “afforce” which is sufficiently close in construction and meaning to “reinforce”), there is nothing in the word which would allow a interlocutor to pick up the meaning.  That’s because the element “adventure” id derived from a linguistic fork which evolved into extinction, the aventure in the Old French per aventure coming from the adventura, a future form of the verb advenire (to happen (ie something which may occur).  However by the time it entered the Old French, variously it could mean destiny or fate, a chance event, an accident, fortune or luck and it was the sense of “a chance or uncertain event” that attached to the word when it was adopted in the Middle English.  That eventually produced peradventure but “adventure” also came to be used in English as an event with some risk of danger or loss, that sense persisting in law (In admiralty law, marine insurers use adventure in the technical sense of ”the period during which insured goods are at risk” and there’s the technical term “medical misadventure”, used when doctors murder their patients).  The sense thus shifted from “a chance event” to “a hazardous undertaking or audacious exploit to the modern form” (which still exists in law) before assuming the modern meaning: “a novel or exciting experience”.  Thus, it’s unlikely to occur to most that “peradventure” means what it does.

It can of course be used among word nerds and others where a pride of knowledge is something admired.  John Parker (1885–1958), the US alternate judge sitting on the International Military Tribunal trying the Nazi leadership (the first Nuremberg Trial (1945-1946)), used the phrase “…conspiracy has been proved beyond peradventure” when resisting the objection from the French judges that the charge of “criminal conspiracy” (Count One: Conspiracy to Wage Aggressive War) was not sustainable because it was unknown in international or continental law, too vague and a conspiracy is anyway absorbed by the crime one committed.  It was an interesting discussion which didn’t convince the French although, in the circumstances, they were inclined to compromise… a little.  The primary US judge, Francis Biddle (1886–1968), noted on hearing “peradventure” that Judge Parker “liked such old-fashioned phrases, which, when he used them, sounded like the crack of a long whip, tearing other arguments to shreds”.  He might have added Parker came from the North Carolina bar, where old-fashioned phrases are perhaps more often heard.

It does also enjoy that ultimate imprimatur of authenticity, as an adverb appearing seventeen times in the plays of William Shakespeare (1564–1616), two examples being:

Henry V, Act IV, Scene I.

Some, peradventure, have on them the guilt of peradventure premeditated and contriued Murther; some, of beguiling Virgins with the broken Seales of Periurie; some, making the Warres their Bulwarke, that haue before gored the gentle Bosome of Peace with Pillage and Robberie.

Coriolanus Act II, Scene I.

…peraduenture some of the best of 'em were hereditarie hangmen.  Godden to your Worships, more of your conuersation would infect my Braine, being the Heardsmen of the Beastly Plebeans.  I will be bold to take my leaue of you.

Trend of use of peradventure, tracked by the Collins English Dictionary.

The trend however, the odd eighteenth century spike notwithstanding, is down, one of the few supporting gestures in recent years (2015) by UK Labor MP Harriet Harman (b 1950) and such was the reaction from friend and foe that, beyond peradventure, she’s unlikely to use it again.

Trans

Trans (pronounced trans or tranz)

(1) A person who identifies as transgender (though now the polite use seems to be as a modifier (trans-man, trans-woman, trans-gender and not always hyphenated), the prefix denoting “on the other side of,” referring to the misalignment of one’s gender identity with one's sex assigned at birth.

(2) As an offensive slur, a historic term for a transsexual (itself a now less common term) and often used as “trannie” (which tended to be non-offensive if used within the transsexual community).  As a slur, both trans and trannie are sometimes used (often technically incorrectly) as expressions of general disapprobation of anybody perceived as maintaining an identity outside traditionally constructed gender norms.

(3) In chemistry, in (or constituting, forming, or describing) a double bond in which the greater radical on both ends is on the opposite side of the bond.

(4) In chemistry, in (or constituting, forming, or describing) a coordination compound in which the two instances of a particular ligand are on opposite sides of the central atom (eg the trans effect is the labilization of ligands which are trans to certain other ligands).

(5) In cytology, of the side of the Golgi apparatus farther from the endoplasmic reticulum.

(6) In the slang of mechanics and certain mechanical engineers, a shorting of “transmission” (an intermediate input/output device between a power unit and its eventual delivery), sometimes also truncated as “tranny” (both dating back at least decades).

Mid-late twentieth century: Transsexual appears in the literature in 1953 but then it had the meaning "intense desire to change one's sexual status, including the anatomical structure" but as early as 1941 “transsexuality” was being used to describe both "homosexuality & bisexuality".  In the current sense it has existed since 1955 but for decades the older uses overlapped.  The prefix trans- is from the Latin trāns (adverb and preposition) (across, beyond, through) from the Proto-Italic trānts, from the primitive Indo-European tr̥h-n̥ts, from terh- (through, throughout, over).  It was cognate with the English through, the Scots throch (through), the West Frisian troch (through), the Dutch door (through), the German durch (through), the Gothic þairh (through), the Albanian tërthor (through, around) and the Welsh tra (through).  Trans is a noun and adjective, the noun plural historically was transes but as trans has become a notable component of identity politics, trans is now often used, especially collectively.  The noun transness is a recent coining and although they’re still non-standard forms, (sometimes jocular) creations such as transbionic & transnessness) have and will continue to be created but it doesn’t seem that transitivity (either (1) the rule in formal grammar which defines the degree in which any one verb can take/govern objects or (2) in mathematics and formal logic, the property of being transitive) has yet in this context been re-purposed. 

The prefix trans- most occurs in loanwords from the Latin (transcend; transfix) and the model imparts meanings related to “across,” “beyond,” “through,” “changing thoroughly,” “transverse,” in combination with elements of any origin: transubstantiation; trans-Siberian; transempirical etc.  In chemistry, the prefix indicating that a chemical compound has a molecular structure in which two groups or atoms are on opposite sides of a double bond trans-butadiene and there does seem to be a widely followed convention in chemistry that trans is written in italics.  In astronomy the prefix denotes something farther from the sun (than a given planet), thus the terms trans-Martian; trans-Neptunian etc.  In genetics, it refers to having two genes, each carrying a mutation, located on opposite chromosomes of a homologous pair.  Transylvania (literally "beyond the forest) was from the Medieval Latin, the construct being trans- + sylva (the geographical area referenced); it was so-called in reference to the wooded mountains that surround it.  The pop-culture associations with vampires make the place famous.  The title of Giuseppe Verdi's (1813–1901) 1853 Opera La traviata (literally “the woman led astray”) but usually translated as “The Fallen Woman” is from traviata ("to lead beyond the way”) from tra- (across, beyond), from the Latin trāns.  English has many words either influenced by or which trans is a part including Trans-Atlantic, trans-oceanic, transnational, transsexual, translocation, transpontine, transliteration, transept, transect, transducer, transmit, transfer, transit, transmute, translucent, transform, transverse, transfuse, transitive, transcribe, transubstantiation, transplant, transcend, transfigure, transgress, transfix, transact, transmutation, transpire, transient, transfusion, transparent, transport, travesty, transpose, transgression, translate, transmigration, transaction & trajectory.

The state commonly called Jordan (الأردن in the the Arabic (Al-ʾUrdunn)) is officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  In one of the classic colonial fixes at which the British (through long practice) used to be really good, the Emirate of Transjordan was created in 1921 as a British protectorate, independence granted in 1946 as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan, renamed in 1949 to its present name to celebrate the capture of the West Bank during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, held as annexed territory until lost in the six-day war in 1967, the claim not renounced until 1988 as part of a peace treaty with the state of Israel.  The name of Jordan is from the Jordan River which forms much of its northwestern border, the name though derived from the Hebrew ירד (Yarad) (one who descends), a reference to the waterway’s physical geography.  The name “Transjordan” wasn’t actually an invention of the British Colonial Office but an adoption of a geographical expression in use for centuries meaning “across the Jordan” and used, historically, to denote the lands east of the river.

The trans wars

The terms transgender and trans (in this context) are technically interchangeable but so fraught are the politics of identity that some may have objections to either and the general rule is to conform to whichever preference is expressed.  The developments have been so rapid in the early twenty-first century that trans has attracted the interest of the linguistics community and its been noted there are transgender people who prefer writing trans compounds as two words (ie trans man, trans woman, trans person), and when used as an open compound with a space, trans functions as an adjective modifying a noun.  Although to many it may seem a fine distinction, spelling these words as closed or hyphenated compounds (transmale, trans-woman etc) loses the distinction between trans as a descriptive adjective and man, woman, or person as a human being and on that basis cis male and cis female would be preferred although there’s no evidence of concern from the CIS community except those who assert the concept is unnecessary and add nothing to male & female.

The second "A" in LGBTQQIAAOP refers to "allies" (straight people who accept and support those anywhere in the LGBTQQIAAOP range(s)).  What allies do is actively support or advocate for the non-straight community; it does not apply to those who merely "don't oppose".  In supporting the queer participation in film, Ms Logan is an ally.

There is also trans+, dating from 2003, which doesn’t as such add a new category to gender fluidity but instead acts (mostly adjectively) as an expression of inclusiveness, an all-encompassing blanket term covering all specific gender identities which are not cisgender and (more controversially), is used by some even to include "allies" (in the sense of the second "A" in LGBTQQIAAOP) from the among the CIS.  The emergence of the concept of trans+ may have been political, a desire to avoid the internal divisions which have been documented between the LGBTQQIAAOP factions although the extent to which another constructed (and by some perhaps imposed) label can be effective in limiting the fissiparousness which may to some extent have been at least encouraged by the dictatorial implications of the label LGBTQQIAAOP is debatable.

What trans+ does is add to the (narrowly defined ) trans community (the range of gender identities including transgender, genderqueer, gender-fluid etc) the genderless, the agender, the subgender, the postgender, the bigender, the varigender and (presumably) whatever other flavors may emerge from the seemingly expanding spectrum(s) among the non-cisgender.  Another intriguing innovation, noted first in 2017 was the appending of the asterisk, presumably as a wildcard as used (since circa 1969) when handling the searching of computer file systems but linguistically, trans*, trans+* & trans*+ don’t appear in any way to change the meaning of trans+ and should probably be thought of as a strengthening of the denotation of inclusiveness.  That said, within any community (however defined), there will always be those who long for (an exclusionary) exclusivity for their faction so it’s not impossible that trans+ may yet fracture.  Transgender Day of Visibility is celebrated every 31 March, the day set aside to advocate for and celebrate the accomplishments of transgender persons, one right wing US politician who made no secret of their transphobia opining that if it has to exist, it should be moved to 29 February.

TERF but not teal: The photogenic Katherine Deves for whom green is green and  blue is blue and never the twain shall meet.

Unexpectedly, transphobia emerged as an issue in the 2022 Australian general election.  Ms Katherine Deves (b 1978; lawyer and candidate (Liberal) for the division of Warringah (NSW)), the personal selection (“captain’s pick” in the sporting parlance borrowed by politics) as candidate by Prime Minister Scott Morrison (b 1968; prime-minister since 2018) excited controversy firstly by expressing a view that trans-women should not be allowed to compete in sporting competition against cis-women because of the advantages in strength she said their origins as cis-men inherently conferred, regardless of any subsequent treatment.  That was enough to excite a reaction on twitter but things really erupted when historic social media posts were leaked, including “half of all males with trans identities are sex offenders”, referring to (gay) surrogacy as “prostitution”, suggesting a link between “transvestism and serial killers”, claiming trans teenagers were “surgically mutilated” and describing a gay magazine as “… just a mouthpiece for misogynists and the Rainbow Reich.”  Given comparing anything to the Nazis is best left to consenting historians behind closed doors, that might have been expected to trigger another twitterstorm but reaction was untypically subdued, the issue of transphobia seemingly drowning out everything else.  The US president had also caught her eye.  Disturbed by his pro-trans position, she posted that she didn't "...believe Biden is capable of thinking much at all, he’s clearly showing signs of dementia’’ although she refused to accept his views were sincere and he was forced by political necessity to pander to the “very powerful and incredibly dangerous” transgender activists within the Democratic Party.

Demonstration in the Warringah electorate by the Community Action for Rainbow Rights to protest the Liberal Party’s endorsement of Ms Deves as their candidate.

Ms Deves, a self-described TERF (trans exclusionary radical feminist) issued a statement in which she acknowledged that “…trying to prosecute arguments about complex, nuanced and difficult subjects ... should not take place on a platform that propagates offence and division and hurt.” “Going forward…” she added, “I will be conducting myself in a dignified and respectful fashion”, noting that twitter “…was not the appropriate platform to do so.”  “I have removed myself from that platform, and I will not be going back there again.”  “With this issue, we have a collision of rights and thus far the voices of women and girls have not been heard. And when we have a collision of rights in liberal democracies, we debate them in a reasonable, measured fashion – that's what should have taken place here.”

It wasn’t a difficult statement to deconstruct, Ms Deves, who previously had also condemned surrogacy as a “human rights violation” not retreating from or recanting her expressed opinions, just saying they’d no longer appear on twitter.  Mr Morrison, not previously noted for any contribution to feminist thought, seemed grateful finally to have stumbled on such a champion of women’s rights and declared “She is a woman standing up for women and girls and their access to fair sport in this country”, adding “I am not going to allow her to be silenced.”

Nor it seems, shortly, will twitter.  Ms Deves may be joyful about libertarian Elon Musk's (b 1971) plans to overthrow the censorious ancien régime at twitter and may yet return to the platform but it may be a moot point whether her advocacy in the matter of women’s sport is anyway an example of transphobia.  That discussion is solely about participation in sporting competitions restricted to “women”, there being no debate about the right of trans-persons to enter events restricted to “men”.  The issue therefore is not one of a generalized transphobia but rather "transwomanphobia" although that does seem no less objectionable.  However, regardless of the syntax, it’s not something which is going to go away soon because the medical and legal devices adopted by sporting codes and the anti-doping agencies have not satisfied everybody and it may be no such solution exists.  The dispute remains afoot.

The Warringah electorate has existed in essentially its present form since a 1922 redistribution (re-districting) and has been associated with some notable characters in political history.  The member (as an independent and for the Liberal Party and its predecessors) between 1937-1951 was Sir Percy Spender (1897–1985; foreign minister 1949-1951; Ambassador to the United States 1951–1958; member of the International Court of Justice 1958–1967 (president 1964-1967)).  Sir Percy was the grandfather of Allegra Spender (b 1978), a Sydney business identity & heiress who is standing as one of the so-called “teal independents” (teal presumably the idea of mixing a “blue-blood” establishment background with a “green” environmental consciousness) targeting those Liberal-held seats thought vulnerable because the voters’ profile tends to a more progressive agenda.  Throughout his career at the bar, in politics and on the bench, Sir Percy was noted, though not always praised, for his independence of mind and one suspects he might have approved of his grand-daughter’s designs on his old seat.

Sunday at Clontarf Beach (1979), oil on canvas, by Salvatore Zofrea (b 1946).

Edward (Ted) St John (1916-1994; a practicing QC) (confusingly pronounced sin-gin in one of the historic quirks of Anglo-French) held the seat for three turbulent years between 1966-1969, during which he managed to upset two prime-ministers and not a few others repelled by his moralizing although, despite his prudish and puritanical reputation, he was a doughty defender of free speech and appeared for the defense in the Oz and Thurunka obscenity cases (which saw him, bizarrely, labeled "a pornographer") and would later in his legal chambers hang Salvatore Zofrea’s Sunday at Clontarf Beach, something a little more explicit than what usually adored the walls of the Sydney bar.  His memoir (A Time to Speak (1969)) was uncompromising but well-written.

Less impressive was the tenure of Michael MacKellar (1938–2015) who kept the plum seat in his grasp between 1969-1994.  Due more to the effluxion of time than any obvious talent, he served as an undistinguished member of the Fraser government (1975-1983) but is now remembered only for an attempt to evade duty on imported goods, an event blamed, as is traditional, on a mistake by a member of staff apparently employed by the taxpayer also to attend to the minister’s personal paperwork.  In an example of how cover-ups tend to be worse than the original indiscretions, a fellow Minister, John Moore (b 1936; MP 1975-2001, minister in the Fraser and Howard governments), attempted a cover-up, the consequence being they both were compelled to resign their offices.  Whatever might be the criticisms of Malcolm Fraser (1930–2015; prime-minister 1975-1983), he did maintain high standards of ministerial propriety which have for some time, essentially ceased to exist and the decline in the enforcement of those standards does mean subsequently there have been plenty of second and third acts in Australian politics.  Although he never again held office, Mr Mackellar did return to serve on the opposition front bench and thrice unsuccessfully sought the deputy leadership of the Liberal Party.

Mr Moore’s story was even more amusing.  In opposition between 1983-1996, he served in the shadow cabinet while also making a few unsuccessful attempts to become deputy leader but his most notable contribution was as one of a triumvirate of malcontents who (quite competently it must be admitted) in 1989 arranged the knifing in the back of John Howard’s (b 1939; prime-minister 1996-2007) leadership and the re-installation of (the previously and subsequently) unsuccessful Andrew Peacock (1939–2021; leader of the opposition 1983–1985 & 1989–1990).  Mr Howard proved remarkably forgiving (or just desperate to afforce his team with some experience, none except him, Moore and one other ever having served in a cabinet), appointing Mr Moore to cabinet in 1996 and even (in a sign of the declining standards which have since further been eroded) not sacking him when he was found to have breached the ministerial code of conduct.  His usefulness to Mr Howard over by 2001, he was dropped from cabinet and Mr Moore resigned his seat at a point when the party’s fortunes were at a low ebb, the subsequent by-election delivering to the Labor Party what had hitherto been a safe Liberal seat.  In 2015, in what came to be known as the “snouts in the trough” case, Mr Moore and three other former MPs took to the High Court the claim that some (slight) limits placed on some taxpayer-funded allowances (to which they claimed they were for life entitled) were unconstitutional.  They lost.

MacKellar’s successor was Tony Abbott (b 1957; prime-minister 2013-2015) who held Warringah between 1994-2019, always for the Liberal Party although his views seemed more often to reflect those of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP or "Vatican down-under" as it's better understood) which many assumed was his true spiritual home.  Mr Abbott, in what may prove either an aberration or emblematic of something of a shift in political alignments, in 2019 lost the seat to Zali Steggall (b 1974; lawyer and former Winter Olympian) who stood as an independent on a platform which focused on the matter of climate change (the scientific validity of which Mr Abbott once famously dismissed as "crap").  Ms Steggal will in the 2022 poll be re-contesting Warringah, joining Ms Spender as one of the “teal independents”.

The Trans-Am

Trans-Am racing 1969: Porsche 911Rs and Alfa-Romeo GTA.

The Trans-Am Series is a motorsport competition in North America (thus the name trans- (across) + America(s)).  Sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA).  It was first held in 1966, its classic years between 1966-1970, an era in which many of the US manufacturers provided factory backing to the participating teams and there was a symbiotic relationship with the SCCA which came to adjust the rules to suit the available machinery, a reversal of the original model in which the regulations were laid down and the cars were required to conform.

Trans-Am racing 1969: Chevrolet Camaro Z/28s and Ford Boss Mustangs.

Popular from the start, the rules were designed to attract the interest of the baby boomers who were buying versions of the cars raced, and it was originally a series for FIA Group 2 Touring Cars, (slightly) modified standard production vehicles within certain size constraints and built in a certain volume in two capacity classes (122 cubic inches (2.0 litre) and 305 cubic inches (5.0 litre)), both running together on the track.  As intended, it attracted the entries of the US "pony cars" (Plymouth Barracuda, Ford Mustang and their imitators) and the high-performance versions of the European machinery sold in the US.  Bizarrely as it now sounds, the latter class included the then two-litre Porsche 911 because the Germans had prevailed on the SCCA to classify it as a "sedan" but it was then a different sort of vehicle and, cognizant of its evolution, it was later re-classified as a "sports car".  The two litre class was interesting and fiercely contested but it was the noise and fury of the V8 powered pony cars which attracted sponsorship and crowds.

Trans-Am racing 1970: Ford Boss Mustang and Plymouth T/A Cuda.

The series is remembered for the competition between pony cars such as the Ford Mustang, Mercury Cougar, Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, Dodge Challenger, Plymouth Barracuda & AMC Javelin but it didn't long last as something for the typical cars bought from showrooms in the tens of thousands.  The victory of the Mustang in the first two years of the championship had done much for Ford's image and in response, with a pot of money in one hand and a copy of the SCCA rule-book in the other, Chevrolet built a special version of their new pony car, the Camaro Z/28 which featured a unique 302 cubic inch version of the small-block V8 which, highly strung and noisy, obviously wasn’t intended for anywhere but a race track.  To this, Ford responded.  They had enlarged their mainstream small-block V8 to 302 cubic inches but it wasn't race-ready like the Z/28 so what was concocted was one of the wilder power-plants of the era, the tunnel-port 302 although, despite the company's assurances, it was never produced in sufficient numbers to conform with the SCCA's rules but of greater concern was the way it was prone to blowing up.  What Ford had done was to take a technique which had proved successful on the bigger FE engine, which in 427 cubic inch (7.0 litre) form had been reliable enough twice to win the Le Mans twenty-four classic, solving a problem inherent to pushrod engines; the limitations imposed on intake port size by the need to provide a passage for the pushrod tube.  A tunnel-port was, as the name implied, a tunnel for the pushrod which passed directly through the port which could now be made as large as possible.  Surprisingly, the tubular tunnels proved to have no adverse effect on gas flow, the tunnel-port 302s producing prodigious power and, satisfied what they'd seen on the dynamometer was indicative of a race-winning engine, Ford went racing.  Unfortunately, those big ports which guaranteed the stunning top-end power actually inhibited low and mid-range torque and that was what was required on the twisty road courses and street circuits where the Trans-Am cars ran and the high-revving tunnel ports, away from the static environment of the dynamometer test rig, generated much stress and components began frequently to break.  Chevrolet won the next two Trans-Am titles.  Ford came up with a better idea the next year, the Boss 302 sacrificing some of the tunnel-port's intoxicating high range response but delivering its power over a range actually usable by race drivers and Ford duly won the 1970 championship.

Trans-Am racing 1968: Pontiac Firebird.

The writing however was on the wall for the practice of putting race-engines in road cars.  The world was changing and the manufacturers were being forced to divert resources away from motorsport to more prosaic pursuits like safety and emission control, racing budgets shrinking or evaporating.  In response, the SCCA changed the rules so that it was no longer necessary for manufacturers to produce and sell a specified number of the sometimes cantankerous race-bred mills, instead allowing them to modify just what was used in the race-cars, even increasing or reducing capacity as required.  Thus the exotic 302s (and Pontiac's stillborn 303) were retired and Chrysler was encouraged to enter the fray, the race teams de-stroking their LA 340 cubic inch (5.5 litre) V8 to meet the limit.  The pragmatic approach sustained interest for another couple of years but by 1973 the manufacturers had withdrawn support to concentrate on things more essential and the first oil shock that year guaranteed the corporate gaze would remain averted from the circuits.  The Trans-Am series however, under a variety of names, continued and is still run although it's never again captured the imagination the way it did in that first half-decade.

The Pontiac Trans Am

1969 Pontiac Trans Am.

Over four generations, the Pontiac Firebird was produced between 1967-2002 but is best remembered for the Trans Am versions, introduced in 1969.  The original intention had been that like Chevrolet’s Camaro Z/28, the Firebird Trans Am would be a genuine race-ready package, the centrepiece of which would be a short-stroke, 303 cubic inch V8.  Unfortunately, development of the 303 was delayed and by the time a reputed twenty-five odd had been installed in pre-production vehicles, the SCCA had changed the rules and the special race engines were no longer required but, having invested so much already in the other parts, Pontiac decided anyway to proceed which meant (1) the true Trans Am never actually took part in the series after which it was named and (2) the production version was really just a Firebird which looked like a racing car.  Fortunately, it transpired that was exactly what the market really wanted and for decades the Trans Am was usually Pontiac’s most profitable range, the bottom like dented only slightly by the US$5.00 per unit paid to the SCCA as a licensing fee for the use of the name (although Pontiac deleted the hyphen).

1973 Pontiac Trans Am SD-455.

Perhaps the most famous of the Trans Ams were those produced in 1973-1974 and fitted with the SD-455 engine (455 cubic inches (7.5 litre)), an unexpected throwback to high-performance in an era when outputs were in decline and it was thought both the industry and buyers had lost interest in such things.  Resurrecting the SD (Super-Duty) moniker which Pontiac had used as a high-performance designator in the early 1960s, the SD-455 is infamous for the trick with which Pontiac tried to fool the EPA’s (Environmental Protection Agency) inspectors, a primitive version of dieselgate which in the twenty-first century would cost Volkswagen and others (all also guilty as sin) billions.  Pontiac’s engineers had studied the parameters of the EPA’s tailpipe-emission test cycle and, noting it ran for fifty seconds, devised an ingenious system which after 53 seconds deactivated the critical anti-emission plumbing.  Under this regime, the SD-455 was able to produce the 310 horsepower which was by then the top rating in the industry while still receiving the vital EPA certification required legally to sell the thing.  Unfortunately, the EPA’s engineers turned out to be just as clever and detected the ruse, a more impressive performance than that of the later eurocrats who “caught” Volkswagen only because Mercedes-Benz snitched on them in exchange for immunity from prosecution.  Those were more forgiving times and instead of being pursued through the courts, Pontiac was required only to follow the rules and although the SD-455 had to be detuned a little, the resulting 290 horsepower was still more than anyone else could manage in those years.

High Performance Cars Magazine, April 1973.

SD-455 production numbers were low, 295 in 1973 (252 in Trans Ams & 43 in Firebird Formulas) and 1001 in 1974 (943 Trans Ams & 58 Formulas) and after the troubles with the EPA, plans to offer the engine in other models were abandoned although not until after some pre-production (310 horsepower) Trans Ams and one GTO (a larger, four-seat coupé) had been given to the press for testing and publicity.  The SD-455 Trans Am’s reputation is thus probably a little inflated because many of the performance numbers quoted come from the early tests of the machines with the anti-EPA cheat gear attached but more embarrassing was that Hi-Performance Cars magazine, impressed with the SD-455 GTO they'd tested, announced it as the winner of their 1973 Car of The Year Award, the magazine hitting the news-stands just the decision was taken not to produce the thing.