[CHuDWah]

The "original" debate has been raging for the 60 years I've been involved with old cars and no doubt well before then. It will never be settled because there are so many definitions of the term. For example, a popular definition is "as it left the factory." I submit there is no such thing. As soon as a car rolled off the assembly line (and likely before), it began to change. It incurred wear before it ever left the factory lot. That process continued throughout its life, so worn parts may have been replaced. Even if they were OEM, they were not factory-installed on that particular car. If they weren't replaced, they no longer met factory specs. So the car wasn't "as built." Yes, that's a ridiculously strict definition but it illustrates the point that the semantics are meaningless.