Thank you! For that kind of money I would be checking the codes and its not because I am anal. I work to hard for my money and want to know what I am buying. If I spent the money and found out it was a re-body after I would be pissed no matter how well it ran. You can buy a great running "clone" for a lot less money if you were just looking for a good running, correct looking car. I would love to have one of those to not have to worry about driving.
A re- body, VIN transfer is as illegal as it gets. Same as counterfeit $100 bills, would you be ok with those? They look the same right?
Body shops do it all the time. It's been talked about on here. The laws/process I believe varies from State to State and maybe in some it is illegal no matter what. Regardless, I could cut the VIN plate out of a rusted dash w/rivets intact & weld it into another body. Viola, not a re-body. Kinda like getting a re-modeling permit on a house & using one brick from the original structure. It's all semantics really. Legal issues aside, philosophically, what constitutes a car is the real question.
i dont think dano or anybody is saying its not morally right. vin tag changing laws are there to try and stop thieves from re selling hot cars. i dont think the lawmakers cared if down the road someone re bodied a car because it was wiser and cheaper than replacing all the rotted out metal panels. this thread is interesting! cheers charlie,
Illegal rebodys vin swaps are to hide stolen vehicles not so much in the classic car hobby today folks are just trying to keep once dead cars on the road.Lot more dreamers with no money than people who can afford blank check restos.
drooling over that black beast!!!!!!!!!! like stage 2 said be patient and vigil and you will get what you want at the right price. i had to wait about 8 years to find my QQ 4speed stg1 X, for a reasonable price. and it was only a few bucks more than this car posted. charlie
For a much better price (like the original price this guy paid for it), I’d get it road worthy and drive the snot out of it. Probably too much body rust to pass PA state inspection (sharp rust holes mostly), but I see junk like this regularly when I’m in Ohio. Patch what you can without blowing it apart into 1000 pieces, buy a repro hood tach, chin spoiler, and enjoy it. It would still be a hefty investment if you’re all in around $35k, but who else has a real beater GSX? Remember, this car still exists, and if it’s structurally sound (ie, frame, floor supports, suspension, etc), why not enjoy it for what it is. They don’t all have to undergo a nut and bolt restoration to be fun to own.
And ship it to Georgia-we don’t need no stinkin’ ‘spections! If it ain’t stolen, here’s your tag! Patrick
it’s not the same as remodeling a house and you can’t make a GSX out of a skylark just by swapping the VIN, and a boy can’t become a girl. God and GM made it what it is and no amount of BS changes that. A complete re-body is FRAUD.
So at what point of dismantling the original body and replacing parts on it does it become a re-body? How about if one were to use the quarters, rear wheelhouses, floors, rockers, saddlebags, from a Skylark? Did you look @ the link I provided above? Is that a re-body? Is it OK as long as one goes through the time/pain/expense of cutting up the original shell & replacing all the parts individually but one cannot "cheat" and replace them all as a welded together unit? What if it still retains the original frame, engine, trans, etc. What if you re-body a Skylark w/a Skylark body? How about, as I outlined below, if you re-body as GS w/a GS body?
Personally, I wouldn't and I'm not advocating anyone do so. When I bought my old GSX in '86, it wasn't in much if any better condition than this one and initially I was going re-body it - I even had the body (rust-free, A/C, no vinyl top, '70). Ultimately, I decided if I'd kept it that I was have cut apart the original shell. I had a numbers matching '70 Stage 1 4-sp that had m/l been totaled. Frame & body shell were both pretty bad. I found a very decent shell & frame form a parted out '70 Stage 1 4sp. it was even the same color orig. Why it was parted I have no idea. I ultimately sold the project & have no idea what ever happened to it but what would that have been? Personally, I think there should be a significant value added for all original sheetmetal just as it is for the original matching numbers engine. What about the orig. frame? Ultimately, a correctly done re-body is going to be a nicer end product and look more original than hacked up, welded back together original shell. I go back to the original question - What constitutes a car? Everything except 2 parts were available as replacement parts.
Where were OEM body panels made from back in the day? I know they were made from the manufacturing plant but were the fenders, door panels etc. taken from the line that produced them for the complete cars themselves or on other presses which made the basic fenders, doors etc. minus some mounting holes? I mentioned the missing holes as some cars had different options and it was up to the body man at a shop to cut out what was needed. Also was there a certain percentage of replacement parts made to cars made?
I'd imagine that all the fenders, trunk lids, & quarters were made w/ the same tooling & that there were jigs & the holes for the various models/options/series were punched. Can't imagine that they could've coordinated all that so early on in the stamping process. There are at least 2 '72 GS convertibles that we know of that, in addition to all of the GS badging, orig. came w/Skylark emblems in the quarters. I'd suspect the shells were assembled with the wrong quarters at Fisher Body & they just used the emblems to plug the holes & got 'em out the door.
