Rebodied cars and do they get certified - Page 3

Kirk · #21 11-09-2005, 07:01 AM

Please dont tell me that the COPO Connection was part of this farce to ID bad cars esp since I recently looked at a few with Ed's certifications.

Im going to most likely walk the plank on this one (esp since im new here)but what known cars are not the orginal bodys then?

**Mr70** · #22 11-09-2005, 07:27 AM

**YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY** · #23 11-09-2005, 07:33 AM

Got any of that popcorn left over?

hep1966 · #24 11-09-2005, 08:29 AM

This post is not directed to anyone in particular so please don’t think that I’m out to get anyone.

Where is the line drawn in the restoration or repair of a car?

Replace fender or fenders due to rust or crash.
Replace 1/4s due to rust or crash.
Replace trunk floor due to rust or crash.
Replace rear inner wheel wells due to rust or crash.
Replace rockers due to rust or crash.
Replace roof due to rust or crash.
How do any of the above things constitute fraud? They don't.

Weld in a piece of metal to repair hole in firewall.
Weld in a bigger piece of metal to repair firewall.
Any fraud yet? No.

Weld in a huge piece of metal to repair your firewall. In doing so the hidden VIN has been eliminated.
Any fraud yet? No. You simply replaced what needed to be replaced.

Take parts of your firewall and/or dash assembly and weld them onto a pre-assembled replacement body kit. Any fraud here? No. You are simply replacing rusted or crashed body parts with new parts. Many if not all cars built today have VINs on body and frame parts. When newer cars are crashed and have parts replaced, do you think it is fraudulent? Of course not. Frames get replaced every day in body shops all over the country. The cars and trucks keep their original VINs. So why all the fuss? Why should anyone think that a car should be confiscated or destroyed because of replacement body parts with the work being done as outlined above? What difference does it make if you replace parts one at a time or many parts at one time?

What should happen to all of those vintage racecars that crashed earlier this year? From some of the postings in these forums I see that some of you think those cars are now worthless junk. If anyone tries to fix them, they would be committing fraud. Oh wait, those are special cars owned by special people. So it's OK to fix them. The common folk have to resort to kit car classification.

**kwhizz** · #25 11-09-2005, 08:43 AM

I know of one of "The Rarest of the Rare" factory built race cars that has been rebodied and retagged......the car was found behind the original owners business and after 30 odd years of sitting unprotected in the weather, there wasn't much left of it......but, the original drivetrain and everything else was safely stored inside and were in perfect condition......a rust free donor car was bought out of arizona..........and you know the rest of the story..........

Ken

Keith Tedford · #26 11-09-2005, 04:12 PM

As long as the buyer is aware of exactly what was done with the car, then no problem. How much restoration that had to be done will probably be reflected in the selling price. The problem is that eventually a money hungry shyster gets hold of the car and then the fun begins. An honest seller will never have a problem. It would even be to his advantage to have the buyer signing that he is aware of exactly what has been done to the car. I know that I will have a ton of pictures of the restoration of our car for any eventual buyer to see. Can't see a sale happening any time soon though.

Jeff H · #27 11-09-2005, 04:50 PM

Like Steve said, transferring the VIN tag and hidden VIN portions of the firewall is illegal so once that has been done, it's definitely a rebody. But if it's done really well, how would someone like Ed really be able to tell without taking apart the car he's inspecting. There will be more attempts at rebodys because the prices on these cars keep going up.

**sixtiesmuscle** · #28 11-09-2005, 04:53 PM

Just my opinion, but, I think before we start offering up blanket accusations that someone is doing something illegal or unethical, that we all take a breath, count to ten, and, remember that most things posted on the net are taken as fact by many people. Before trashing a person, or, a large group of cars, by insinuation, isn't it better to address individual cars that a prospective buyer may ask about?

**SamLBInj** · #29 11-09-2005, 05:42 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I don't see what all the fuss is about. There are doctors in LA and Palm Beach who re-body people every day. A couple of Camaros shouldn't be such a big deal. Right???

wilma

[/ QUOTE ]

They dont always make sense though, I mean, look at this old crusty rebody

**PeteLeathersac** · #30 11-09-2005, 05:59 PM

- Personal opinion too, but the big thing I see in crossing the line between the work done to repair a car and something illegal, is INTENT! . Is the intent to innocently repair a damaged car and keep the facts of it's repairs available, or to slip as much of other cars under tags and Vin stamped parts and obscure the facts? . Somewhere in here is itself the issue of repop tags, POP's, restampings and other "documentation". . Perhaps some feel it's Ok with "rebodying" a car using only "all original parts" but wouldn't restamp or create bogus tags and documents? . Lots to consider, great stuff and things that need to be discussed, not always left in the darkness in case some need to hide in it someday....or are already there? ~ Pete

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