[RichSchmidt]

The funny thing is that if you could pull of the job of the rebody and still no have the car look like it has been too "handled",it would attract a lot more attention and desire then a super restored car.Restoration used to mean to take a restorable car{such as one with a few dents,and some minor rust},and iron out all the blemishes and refinish it.It is getting that the point now that the best restored cars are the ones that are built with all new parts.It isnt resored if it isnt original,it is recreated.Cars with no original sheet metal except the VIN tag devalue the opinion of the real restorations of actual complete cars that were actually reconditioned using their original parts.It seems that nowadays all you need to have to own a real ZL1 camaro would be the stripped out hulk of somebody's tube chassis race car with the VIN in the window and the trim tag sitting in a baggie along with the title waiting to be reattached as soon as you put a firewall back into your project.Once it is done and it looks just like it was made that way 35 years ago.Is the product that much better then the car that is owned by that guy who did the dead on clone of one using a bonafide original mint 69 camaro body?Who really has a more original car?The guy who recreated everything except the trim tag on his car,or the guy who recreated the trim tag but used every other part that his car came with in 1969?Both of them are a sad twist on the truth to me.

And Sorry Rick,I guess I was reading too much into your post.I was trying to use it to explain my point about how parts that nobody would have ever considered replaceable 30 years ago are now being replaced and even repopped in new metal.20 years ago if a car was soo messed up that the firewall was shot,it was pretty much junked because none of these cars were considered valuable enough to be worth that kind of effort.Today,supercars with major structruatal damage are repaired at all cost.Its a sign of how the market has changed.


I guess a better question might be this.2 cars are at an auction alongside each other.Both are identical in quality and both are exactly the same car right down to the color and trim levels.

Car one was restored off a fairly original and clean body and aside from having a few replacemnt parts,the entire job of restoring the car centered around refinishing.As a point of interest,this car had a few small rust spots that were repaired rather then replaced,but the sheet metal is all original despite maybe even having a dab or two of plastic on it.The original undercarrage finish was cleaned up and touched up,but it is obvious that this car is untampered.

Car two was a total basket case prior to restoration.when the car was first aquirred,it was a tube chasis race car,but by some miricale,the original drivetrain and front subframe were found in some other guys car and that guy happily returned it to the restoration effort.The repairs to this car involved replacing the entire floorpan/rear structure from the toeboards to the tailpanel with parts cut from a donor car.The car has 2 new 1/4's,2 doors from another car,as well as 2 donor fenders,the interior has almost all replacement parts,and while everything is dated correctly,it is known that none of the parts are actually original to this car.As a plus for this car,the substaintially repaired undercarrage was detailed to perfection during the restoration in an effort to cover up the massive job that was done.

With both cars side by side.Which one would you rather own?