Brian , .......... I have a Charger , LOL !!! O.K , to show you how bad I am , I had / restored a 69 Charger R/T in B5 blue / white top / white stripe but always wanted a true triple black 69 Charger . Numerous times during the bodywork stage , I was considering doing a color change to the triple black , but for 2 reasons I didn't , Mopars have a data tag that shows all options and colors of the car , ntm , the Mopar "fender tag police " would be noting it out right away it was orig blue , and it would be wrecking a beautiful color combo as well . Also, I would feel better if it were a real / orig color car . No sooner that I finished that car , a real triple black 69 R/T SE orig sheetmetal Cali car came along , and without hesitation I bought it ! While not matching #'s engine , I'll take the orig rust free car that it is over the matching #'s car rotted to death needing all kinds of metal replacement . I feel very proud knowing this car was never a wreck or rotted . At the current time , I am doing a full blown resto on a 70 AAR Cuda for somebody that needed lots of metal replacement ( prob more than that Chevelle ) . Not orig engine but he did go out and get a correct T/A block . We are doing it in orig colors .
There are also the strange, bastard cars out there. I had a slant 6 powered 74 Dodge dart. It had dual piston front calipers that belonged on something much stronger. Must have run short on calipers one day. Also my skylark has it's cowl tag that states it's original color was white. The cowl tag has a hand scratched X over that code. I stripped this entire car to metal and there was no white paint anywhere. I have no idea how that happens, but it did. This car was born green and tagged white.
I said much of the same in the thread on that $65k yellow GSX last summer that we got into the rebody debate about.
Okay, I've reread your replies and I think I have a better understanding of what you're trying to convey on the Ressurection of the once white GSX. 1) Let him try it! I know these cars inside and out and I'll smell the poser from a mile away. 2) He's going to go broke trying! Good, because when B _ _ _ _ _ 455 eventually finds this thread, perhaps that will help deter him from the entire idea of a questionable recreation (he was seeking opinion)
Just an update from my previous post on the burnt GSX I didn’t delete the post because I was spooked. I deleted it because that’s not my car and I didn’t feel I should be showing pictures of perhaps a mans worst day of his life to the world. Those of you who read through the original post could get a sense that this man was incredibly private, I’m sure only his family and closest friends knew of the car. I just felt like it was a mistake to post about a tragedy of someone else’s misfortune.
I feel that original sheet metal should add to the price of a car but “no different than original drivetrains” is a little hard to grasp. It’s hard to find a numbers matching drivetrain, every skylark deck lid is the same.
This is more of what I was thinking when I said rebody the car but much better said by Jim. But I’m afraid that collection of parts is probably gone.
Thanks for your understanding. FWIW, it would appear we have a consensus I would say I love happy endings, but the loss of an Apollo Stage 1 GSX precludes that. BTW rule number 1, once you post something on the Internet, there are no take backs, lol. At the risk of repeating myself, thanks again for your understanding.
Follow-up on the Kansas Corvette and movement on clearly exempting restorations from VIN removal laws: https://www.newsweek.com/car-restorers-threatened-jailtime-get-help-sema-barrett-jackson-1689477
As we had m/l come to agreement on a different thread and as @Jim Weise's post largely alluded to, it's largely the effort put forth so save whatever can be from the original car. Slapping GS VIN/Trim tags & a hood on a Skylark is fraud. Stripping that same Skylark down to nothing & using whatever sheetmetal is necessary along with whatever original parts from the GS (incl. any sheetmetal, even if only structural) can be used is a different story. The question IMHO comes down to at what point is it still a restoration & still the same car vs. a salvage operation/title vs. fraud & much of that depends on intent. With the burned GSX, there's not 1 part that can be salvaged - it's fraud. On a completely rusted out Stage 1 with a good frame & orig. drivetrain you've got something salvageable or restorable, wherever that line is. On a car that needs quarters/wheelhouses/trunk floor/fenders/liners/core support/doors/bumpers you're into legit resto territory but then what if that same car doesn't have it's orig. drivetrain? What if using all Asian repro sheetmetal vs. orig.? Anything in between that burned up GSX and an all orig. sheetmetal/frame/drivetrain car is somewhat subjective/gray area IMHO.
Well, maybe not in complete agreement. Look, I am never going to concede on the idea of "levitation" from one complete car body to another. That is not a restoration but a rebuild. I try to find common ground on how it doesn't make any sense from an investment standpoint and this is what I get. If the GS or GSX requires another cars body, part it out and make a Skylark or another GS happy. That's how you save the "collection of parts", ethically, legally, and economically.
There's probably more all orig. drivetrain cars out there than all-original sheetmetal cars that don't need any panel replacement. And a GSX decklid is different. And every trunklid (& nearly every other part) has a date code &/or came from different vendors with different markings depending on the plant. In the Corvette world, they seem to assume every so-called "original" engine is a re-stamp - You can't tell the well-done re-stamps apart from orig. In Buick world, other than some numbers stamped onto the block by hand and the date code, one 455 block is no different than the next. Other than the hood & GSX decklids, no piece of sheetmetal is different from the next. The VIN & Data tag were the only two parts you couldn't buy at the parts counter. The rest is a gray area and depends on intent.
I did say "more or less" My basket case '70 350 4-sp. is a bad investment. But for me it checks all the boxes regarding wjat excites me about these cars. It's a super unusual car & arguably the quickest factory GS 350 ever built (yes, nobody cares about 350 cars and in the end, it's really Stage 1's & GSX's that this discussion pertains to). But for illustrative purposes, strangely, the quarters/wheelhouses/filler/rear window channel/roof (painted top car) are orig./rust-free as you could want on any car. The package tray is uncut. The trunk & pass floors on the other hand are as bad as any I've ever seen. The dash? Eh... seen worse but definitely seen a lot better. I have the orig. engine & SCO 3.64 rear plus a handful of orig parts (steering column, pedals, gauges/speedometer, and a few other odds & ends). Not the orig. frame (no idea - I got the car in boxes from someone who bought it in the same apart state I got it in). I have a rust-free western Skylark with one bashed-in quarter & a sunroof that I'm going to cut up & merge the two (Skylark has A/C & GS doesn't so...). I have a very nice Frame from a Flint car (GS was a Flint car). I have orig. '70 front fenders, doors, decklid, front wheel liners. To me, it's a restoration. To others? Do I care? Not really.
Reading all the posts here reminded me of a local 69 GS convertible which was for sale several years ago. Car was a decent rolling shell with boxes of parts and had a low asking price. I checked it out in case any members were interested. Turned out the "seller" was acting on behalf of a third party. Then he told me the VIN on the registration, aka title, DID NOT match that on the dashboard! I departed soon afterwards while thanking him for his time and honesty. I later asked my local insurance agent about trying to title (register) insure such a car. His answer was "probably very difficult, if not impossible, even as salvaged". Apparently the car did sell as the ad disappeared shortly thereafter.
