Reconstructed Vehicle VIN swap

[nuch_ss396]

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Wouldn't the VIN swap law apply to the purple Hemi Cuda that was sold at the BJ auction this year? They said the car was burned up in a fire and "rebodied". I was surprised when they announced it, as I thought "rebodying" was illegal.

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Yes it would. I was flaberghasted when I heard the announcer call it a rebody on the air. Nothing like admitting to a felony in front of a couple million people.

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Steve,

I think your point gets to the heart of the matter. If B-J
can do it for high dollar car(s) ( and get away with it ),
others will follow suit as it appears to be an accepted way
of restoring a high values performance car. I'll say it
again, all those dis-embodied VIN's & cowl tags out there
are going to start showing up as rebodied cars for major bucks.

And, if B-J can rationalize the auction of these types of
cars, then they have another potential whole crop of muscle
cars to start pushing on the public.

[firstgenaddict]

I guess the magic questions is how much of the car do you have to use before it is considered a vin swap...
I guess LESS than this Cowl Graft!

[njsteve]

[ QUOTE ]
Steve,

I think your point gets to the heart of the matter. If B-J
can do it for high dollar car(s) ( and get away with it ),
others will follow suit as it appears to be an accepted way
of restoring a high values performance car. I'll say it
again, all those dis-embodied VIN's & cowl tags out there
are going to start showing up as rebodied cars for major bucks.

And, if B-J can rationalize the auction of these types of
cars, then they have another potential whole crop of muscle
cars to start pushing on the public.

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BJ has nothing to do with VIN swapping. The announcers have no clue whatsoever. I was just amazed that the current owner actually put that info out there. It doesn't matter how altuistic the reason, i.e saving a one of one built car, if you take the VIN off the old body and rivet it on the new one, it is a crime and you risk losing the car.

Maybe that's why the new Dynacorn 57 Chevy bodies are now built around existing cowls that retain the original VIN numbers. That would be a legal method of "transferring" a VIN. http://www.1957chevybody.com/body.html I wonder when they are going to start permitting current owners of rusty cars to bring their bodies to the Dynacorn shop for transplantation? It sounds all too science fictiony to me -almost like a Twilight Zone episode in the making. Or maybe the cartoon movie "Robots" where a robot can upgrade to the newest body once his is broken down beyond repair.

[firstgenaddict]

Would it be a VIN swap if you took a cowl from say a ZL1 and then took a regular 6 cyl 69 Camaro... cut the cowl out and intalled the ZL1 cowl?

[jfkheat]

All this has been discussed on here several times. James, I would be willing to bet that what you asked about has been done. Maybe not a ZL1 but with other supercars. You will never hear about these cars because they are not talked about around these parts. Just my opinion.
James

[nuch_ss396]

You're right James !

Anyone with a real ZL-1 probably wouldn't tell the world of
their cowl transplant for fear of castigation. Well, that's
my opinion anyway.