I'm pretty sure that these were the equivilent of kit-cars over in North America - think Fiero conversion
These are not mirror copies by any stretch, but the Italians have recently been on a crackdown on any type of fake.
I think some replicas of rare Maserati and Ferrari race cars were even crushed last year - Kind of like having the police crushing a Beck Spyder because it's a 'counterfit'.
Regards,
Andrew M