What a Waste of a SS396 Chevelle!
- Thread starter 85 Cutlass Brougham
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I do not see what the big deal is. A car is a car is a car. It is what is added, deleted or packaged into the car to make it special.
If you swap the VIN tag and whatever go fast accesories from the "specialty" car over to a good shell it should be worth the same and 90% of people would never ever know
If you swap the VIN tag and whatever go fast accesories from the "specialty" car over to a good shell it should be worth the same and 90% of people would never ever know
I also wish that a car was a car was a car, but with any types of antiques or collectibles it just doesn't go that way. Many serious collectors will not settle for anything less than original as possible.
There is a '78 Monte on E-Bay now with 14k miles on it that looks all original, right down to the tires. Asking price is $10k, but I bet the seller would take $7500-8k for it. Even though it is a base type of model, conditions being equal I would buy it long before any "restored" G body Monte SS, simply because I would not know the restorer or the quality level of the work. Originality maeans a lot when it comes to cars, because there are so many nearly original old cars still out there, some even dating back before the Model T.
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There is a '78 Monte on E-Bay now with 14k miles on it that looks all original, right down to the tires. Asking price is $10k, but I bet the seller would take $7500-8k for it. Even though it is a base type of model, conditions being equal I would buy it long before any "restored" G body Monte SS, simply because I would not know the restorer or the quality level of the work. Originality maeans a lot when it comes to cars, because there are so many nearly original old cars still out there, some even dating back before the Model T.
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andrewmp6 said:
I agree. All the numbers matching nonsense does not make the car any better to drive, it just gives bragging rights to someone with too much money. Weather it's a Chevelle, or one of my more freakish ideas (Like a Honda Insight hybrid with a secondary electric rear drivetrain and plug in with solar in tandem power source using a double pack of Prius batteries to power both the original and second electric motors), I build things to experiment with and drive. I really don't get my jollies out of waxing and polishing a car like a piece of fine furniture. Some people do I guess, but to me the best part of owning a vehicle is the experience of operating it and improving it.
For example, True story BTW:
Bob is a 442 nut and owns a beautiful low low mileage Black 1986 - 442.
While in for service at his mechanic a delivery truck delivering parts to another unit takes the corner too sharp and proceeds to drive over the back 1/4 of Bobs car crushing the rear 1/4, damaging the trucklid and not so gently removing the back bumper.
In a good-will gesture ( and because it was private property ) the Trucking Company Owner offers to pay ( up to $ 4000.00 ) for the repairs on the car so as not involve the police or insurance company
Not wanting a new 1/4 and back half welded in to his beauty and after much searching, Bob buys a mint 1986 Cutlass - V6 and strips it down to the shell ( full body off restoration to body and frame by a good friend who happens to be a GM Body Tech ). Along the way they swap the complete driveline, doors and all other useable body panels + complete interior from the 442 into the Cutlass shell.
In the process he GM Technician swaps the VIN # over to the "new" body using the factory style rivits.
Bob is a real person and this did happen to him. The car is legally a 1986 - 442, licensed, plated, and insured as a " Special Interest Collecter Car " with a current appraised value set at over $20k. The GM Tech said that because there is a certain % of the original 442 car that he could legally swap the VIN Tag with no issues.
Realistically he did not get all of the work done for $4k but he spent the additional time, and money from his own pocket so he could have his pristine beloved 442 back and just as good as the day it rolled off the assembly line.
In short, a car is a car is a car. It's just a shell; if you have the VIN tag + a matching ownership then you have the "real deal" and it's legal.
Bob is a 442 nut and owns a beautiful low low mileage Black 1986 - 442.
While in for service at his mechanic a delivery truck delivering parts to another unit takes the corner too sharp and proceeds to drive over the back 1/4 of Bobs car crushing the rear 1/4, damaging the trucklid and not so gently removing the back bumper.
In a good-will gesture ( and because it was private property ) the Trucking Company Owner offers to pay ( up to $ 4000.00 ) for the repairs on the car so as not involve the police or insurance company
Not wanting a new 1/4 and back half welded in to his beauty and after much searching, Bob buys a mint 1986 Cutlass - V6 and strips it down to the shell ( full body off restoration to body and frame by a good friend who happens to be a GM Body Tech ). Along the way they swap the complete driveline, doors and all other useable body panels + complete interior from the 442 into the Cutlass shell.
In the process he GM Technician swaps the VIN # over to the "new" body using the factory style rivits.
Bob is a real person and this did happen to him. The car is legally a 1986 - 442, licensed, plated, and insured as a " Special Interest Collecter Car " with a current appraised value set at over $20k. The GM Tech said that because there is a certain % of the original 442 car that he could legally swap the VIN Tag with no issues.
Realistically he did not get all of the work done for $4k but he spent the additional time, and money from his own pocket so he could have his pristine beloved 442 back and just as good as the day it rolled off the assembly line.
In short, a car is a car is a car. It's just a shell; if you have the VIN tag + a matching ownership then you have the "real deal" and it's legal.
must be a nice state.
as far as i know. this example is illegal in every state. can't say i know 100% for sure, but in Michigan that is 100% Illegal.
as far as i know. this example is illegal in every state. can't say i know 100% for sure, but in Michigan that is 100% Illegal.
IIRC the VIN goes with the body. you can swap the frame and still call it an "original" whatever. that's why shelby was able to sell bodies as new in the 90's, and register them as 1960's cobra's. the bodies were kept in storage, but everything else was new.
You can replace the floor boards, the doors, the firewall, the roof, the door frames, the A pillars, the rocker panels, and virtually every piece of the shell, so why would replacing the whole shell on a restoration be illegal?
I`ve know people who have done it and was perfectly legal.
I`ve know people who have done it and was perfectly legal.
Boyd Coddington got in trouble in CA for doing something similar, but to a greater extent. As we all know his shop custom fabricated a lot of their own modern chassis that would replace that of the original car being restored. They would then end up replacing most of the body or fabricating their own bodies for the car, and use the original VIN's so the cars could be registered as antique/classic, even though in the end only a tiny percentage of the car was original. For someone doing a few restos here and there they could get away with it, but CA said no more to a big shop like Boyd's. Like the old saying goes, a car is only original once.
As one of the Hemmngs writers said this month, I'm more fascinated by an old original car that is driven regularly even if it has some wear and tear over any car that has been 100% restored to concours condition that goes only to shows in trailer and no one is allowed to so much as breathe on it.
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As one of the Hemmngs writers said this month, I'm more fascinated by an old original car that is driven regularly even if it has some wear and tear over any car that has been 100% restored to concours condition that goes only to shows in trailer and no one is allowed to so much as breathe on it.
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