[tom406]

Thanks for the discussion, I think the debate is healthy for all of us, if for no other reason than to define what's important to us and our hobby.

For the record, super honest unrestored cars are my favorite, and I am among those who would pay more for a killer unrestored car than a fully restored one. I'm probably playing devil's advocate on this issue, since in all honesty, I probably feel only 1 guy in 50 could actually carry out what I consider to be a successful "rebody". It would require complete knowledge and exceptional restoration skill, and most of us usually just have one or the other. And the scenario would have to be like the one I told, where you had a pretty complete car to redo, not just bits and pieces. I'm NOT a supporter of building a car from tags and a title, there is absolutely no "soul" left there to debate, as its only the smallest step from finding dead VINs and building replicas. It's just if I found a neat, significant car that was just a bit too rusted or twisted, but I thought it should be brought back via restoration, I'd be comfortable (in theory anyway) using a date coded donor rather than trying to patch and realign everything. Not many cars are neat or valuable enough to justify the time and expense, though.

Finally, I don't possess the skill or ambition to attempt even a half-assed rebody (another reason to stay with gennie originals), so please don't think I'm one of the producers of these controversial cars.....

Happy New Year all.......