First, get your story right. The ship of Theseus was the ship on which he returned to Athens from Crete, after killing the Minotaur. It was then maintained for centuries as a memorial, which is what sparked the paradox. Might as well use the original source for the paradox, the historian Plutarch...
"The ship wherein
Theseus and the youth of
Athens returned from
Crete had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of
Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their places, in so much that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same."
— Plutarch,
Theseus (23.1)". The Internet Classics Archive. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
Theseus - Wikipedia
Why does it make a difference you ask? Two reasons. One being that you can't replace every single plank on a ship while it's at sea. But more importantly, it goes to the historical identity of the ship.
At some point in the years (centuries) following the return of Theseus, the ship was entirely replaced with new planks. Meaning, not a single board remained on which Theseus had ever set foot. Now sure, the ship appears identical to the original one. Its form, purpose, and even construction is the same. But if you stood on the deck of the original ship, you could say you stood on the same deck on which Theseus stood. Standing on the deck of the ship that has been fully replaced with new planks, not so much. Theseus never stood on those planks. If Theseus dropped his sword and took a chunk out of a plank, that chunk wouldn't be missing from the new plank. If Theseus came back and walked around, would he be able to pick out the details that made it
his ship? Or would he just say it's a nice ship that looks like one he sailed on? Devil's in the details.
Cars are a bit of a different story. We accept that mechanical parts have to change. Having the original oil filter on a car with 50k miles is not a good thing. Tail lights get broken, glass gets cracked, you get the idea. But at some point you cross that line in the sand and you start losing details, like the original assembly signatures and marks, like on the backside of interior panels for example. Sure, that new interior panel may look the same on the outside, but does it have the original assembly signature? Does it tell the same story? Would it mean anything to "fran" if I showed her a replacement glovebox liner in my Challenger? Yes, it's still the same car. In this case, still a '72 Challenger. But if I replace this stuff, has its identity changed? Yeah, it has. If the people that built it can't recognize it as a car they specifically built, it has changed. Now, maybe that's necessary, just like changing the rotted planks of Theseus' ship. But that doesn't mean that something isn't lost, and that the identity of the thing hasn't changed along the way.
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