For Sale Replacement Body Shell

[bluefury361]

My Dads Friend bought a 73 Challenger 318 car, Restored it from the ground up on a rotissery. Then made it a 340-6 pack 3 Speed with O/D. after everything was set and Done i think he only made about 5k profit. He said almost every guy that was looking at the car told him He should of restored it to all original with the 318 as he would of got a lot more for it. Crazy.

True. A clone is a clone, make believe, wanna be........!
It's just a waste of good parts to create one.

 

[GJS]

I don't get this. People are all good with a Cobra kit, why go half assed with less than a half of a Challenger? Make a full blown kit car out of it...

Actually, no, scratch that. Stop wasting metal on crap like this and make me quality replacement trim, properly fit body panels and floor pans for my damned Monaco, ok?!?!

 

[Straight eight]

That´s definitely not the the way to go with a fresh start....that would never be a real Challenger for me...it´s a fake/kit car...no history, nothing. I want to own an "original" one, a classic car....i´m proud telling the people my cars are from the year 1952 or 1969 and so on. And when you want to have a new Challenger...buy a new one from your dealership....only my two cents

 

[crv]

Didn't think Challengers were that rare to warrant this, however, I'm not against it.

 

[300rag]

I have no objection to building a car like that. What I object to is transferring a VIN so that you keep convicing yourself that you still have the real thing. Want a six pac or hemi? Build one, take an assigned VIN, and enjoy. You get what you want and no one gets screwed later.

 

[Moparmat2000]

The question goes beyond what is legal. Even if it is legal to transfer a vin tag to one of these shells (or to a donor car), in my mind it would be dishonest to fail to disclose the history. I also don't understand why anyone would feel like they owned a "real" hemi challenger if they purchased such a car. It would still be great to have one, but not as great as having a real one. Where the dividing line is between real and fake varies for each person. Moparmat mentioned a 50/50 rule. I'm not sure where the line is for me. As for asking price, I think people should try to get as much as they can, as long as they are honest about the history.

The 50% rule is typical involving many court cases for different matters. Thats why i mentioned 50% the reality is though how much of these cars are original after close to 50 years? Is a different than original equipped fender but OEM as equipped fender concidered original equipment compared to a repop. Like you fender bender it and put a used oem fender on it vs a repop? By this time lots of parts on these cars are from different vehicles. I have no fewer than 27 different cars parts in my barracuda. Does that go over 50% i dont know.

 

[Moparmat2000]

At the end of the day this is a Kit-Car and follows all the kit car rules, transferring a VIN is illegal anywhere in the United States.

End of story not open for conversation or interpretation.


Alan

It is essentially concidered a replacement part. I am sure motor vehicle rules regulating that vary from state to state, however i would have to respectfully disagree with the vin transfer being illegal since these are new shells are concidered a "replacement part" with a certificate of origin and not an automobile. Motor vehicle laws in most states vary however the one thing they all are in sync about is transferring a vin to another vehicle with intent to decieve, or for fraud such as concealing a stolen vehicle by swapping a vin. This is the reason theres additional vin partials stamped in other body locations starting in 1969. This is not a vehicle but a very large replacement part.

Being that everything under the vin can be concidered legal to be replaced, especially when using a repop replacement part body shell which has a certificate of origin. I would say its probably legal to do so. If it wasnt, then the law would step in and not let these be sold, or clarify the law regarding moving vins to a rebody with origin certificate vs moving vins to another car which is illegal. So again lets say 50%. And if 50%, which parts should constitute the 50% original, and 50% repop. You have a rebody, but lets say most of everything else going back in the car is original or refurbished original. The law is not so crystal clear here. What if the shell is rusted, but almost everything else is repairable / restorable, you are prob at more than 50% being original.

The problem that arises is with one of these is when you decide to sell the car. If you pass it off as a legit 1970 hemi challenger etc. because of the vin and data plates, when it was a rebody, you can be held liable for fraud since these cars now sell for $100k or more. Though i would hope whoever is buying such a vehicle for that price has done their homework, or payed the right person to do it for them.

Now if you document its build up out of a rusty cadaver using a rebody, and have the buyer and yourself sign duplicate disclosure statements stating as such, you may get less for it upon sale, however the buyer knows what they are getting with a disclosure, so theres no mistake or lawsuit. Also if the car gets sold again with intent to defraud, you have the original signed statement from the guy you sold it to. This takes you out of the intent to defraud loop.

 

[Moparmat2000]

Its crazy. Its like firearms. I can go buy a stripped aftermarket lower reciever "glock 19 type" without a serial number totally legal. Its called an 80 percenter. Meaning it still needs 20% of the machining work done to make it ready to assemble into a working firearm. Being these lower recievers are not concidered firearms yet because of the remainder of the work required before assembly into a working pistol, no serial numbers, no FFL paperwork etc. is required. An unserialized firearm totally legal. However its illegal to make and sell them. Its only for personal use. The law regarding this is for the hobbiest gunsmith.

 

[commando1]

Do you know how many CHIP cars there would be if they offered a '69 Polara? It would be its own industry.

 

[cantflip]

I have mixed emotions about the repop bodies available. On one hand I love the idea that someone who really wants to build a modified street car has this option and can leave the original nice stuff alone. On the other hand, I hate the jackwagons who want to pretend these are true factory cars. If you've got to have it, build it for yourself... but if you sell it, be honest.

 

[Samplingman]

I'd rather spend an extra 20k and get a real metric Challenger. Have any of these actually sold? It's a fantasy if anyone thinks the builder of one of these things will provide "full disclosure" when selling. If original E bodies have dried up and people are that desperate, time to find another hobby. I'll stick with readily available numbers matching original c bodies, thanks.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Who cares you want one and want to do it that way do it, if you don't, dont. Trying to pass it as original is the only problem I see here.

 

[Carmine]

It's like giving a damn about somebody that needs to own designer jeans to be "cool". Then said jeans fall apart after a couple washings. Yup, those are crappy jeans. Nope, not worth a calorie burn for the gov to create a standard for jeans so superficial people don't get ripped off.

I'll keep driving C bodies and wearing Dockers. (Jeans are hot, ugly and ruin leather seats.)

 

[Mr C]

Meh.