[Peter]

Micky, your forgetting some details that happen when you rebody a car. Take for example a 69 Yenko. Its trashed so you find a 69 6cyl car that is absolutely beautiful and really cheap. Perfect for a rebody. But there are certain details about the 6 cyl coupe that are different than the Yenko. Something as simple as the dual exhaust hanger welded on the drivers side frame rail. Thats 6 cyl car body isn't going to have that and its going to have to be welded on. Now it may not look original when done. So a expert may look at the car and say, "what, this car is a fake, it isn't even a factory dual exhaust car as it was modified". Thats just one little thing but a rebody takes away originality and history. My brother in law has a 69 RS/Z that has floor damage from being drag raced and parts breaking. He could put in new floors but you lose that peice of history. Of course if it was a show car you wouldn't keep the floor damaged anyway. Say the rest of the car was shot so he decides to rebody with a rust free shell. Next owner buys the car and does a check on past owners and ends up getting a hold of the original owner that says he raced the car hard and told the guy about the damaged floors and such. Owner looks under the car and the floors are perfect and original. Hmmm whats up with that, now he thinks something is fishy. The car isn't what it used to be anymore when you rebody.
Marlin, your last post was excellent. For people that pay someone else to do work I can see where the rebody would be a choice, not for me though. I know af alot of good cars that were parted because the owner got some outrageous price from a body shop to do work and so on while it wouldn't have been that bad for someone that could do the work themselves providing they had the time and ambition. The rusty Yenko Nova is a perfect example just like you mentioned. I live in MA so I have seen plenty of rusty cars and could just imagine bringing a car like that to a body man and saying how much. But if you have seen what I have gone through on cars that aren't even rare then that Yenko sounds like a great deal for the right buyer without having to part it or rebody it. I guess I am just repeating what you said but it was very well put and although I don't have a Yenko or ZL1 I have learned a great deal from this site and it was one of the few conversations I feel I could reply to without owning one of these great cars. Hopefully one day my not rare, bought pretty much as a shell, maybe a SS 396 Camaro, will someday be painted and look good. Without taking up any more time all I can say is keep the interaction coming, I'm learing alot just hanging out on the sidelines!!