An interesting paragraph on a dealers website that may or may not explain what happened here:
"Be forewarned that if you are gullible enough to purchase an <u>illegally molded copy</u> of Mark Towle's Mach 5, you are certain to experience legal entanglement with the Mach 5 franchise and experience the total loss of your investment! Our Speed Racer Mach 5 turnkey is fully drivable and one of our licensed replicas recently made a U.S. trek 3000 miles from coast to coast."
Full article..
http://www.gothamgarage.net/mach5.html