Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race

[micky69396]

I am going to throw this out for something to think about. Lets say you have this basket case Yenko, COPO, whatever your restoring. The body is wasted. Your replacing all the ft. end metal, Fenders, inners, rad. support, etc. The doors are junk usually. The quarters are junk, the floor pans, trunk pans, deck lid. You know the drill. Most of the time the chassis is saved. How much original metal is really on that restored legit car, not much. I am the last person that will even think about it,(rebodying) but sometimes there is not a good reason to fix junk. There is a issue of dollars spent to justify the end result. I do not condone it, but sometimes its the only thing to do. Would making it a parts car and eventually crushing it be any better. I dont think so.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Micky;
I agree with you that for those owners who will not, or can not do their own restoration work will need to send it to a professional and will need to follow the 'cost/benefit' rule. I know that Brian has had to pass on an original drivetrain, 25k mile Yenko Nova because the rust was so severe that the his customer couldn't justify purchasing it.

In a case like this, I feel that the restoration shop should pass on the car - but not part it out or rebody it. A car like this should be a long-term project for an individual who will put in his own long hours for free, and restore the car for his own pleasure - regardless of how many hours or dollars he ends up spending. Many of us who do our own restorations will end up with a cost equal to or exceeding the current market value. This is usually due to the big dollars needed to secure the correct sheetmetal and parts, but we will make up for it by enjoying the car and not being afraid to damage something that we've already learned how to fix!!

I don't think I could ever 'part-out' a Yenko. It's a matter of putting the right cars into the hands of the right owners, and getting the restorations done right.

M

[JoeC]

mnyenko, Do you have any other info on the crushed Yenko Chevelle? What paint and interior code number is on the tag?

[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!!

[micky69396]

Peter, all I will add to this is, it can be done right and there are ways that cars can be repaired so that no one would know right down to the smallest detail. I do not think its right, but in some cases there will be exceptions.

That being said, my Biscaynes floors are damaged from driveshaft "failures" and the rear end cover is dinged from bad gears, would I think of fixing them, no. It adds to the history.

[Peter]

OK I agree with enough money and time you could rebody without anyone knowing. It would really have to be a high dollar car to go to such lengths and I still don't agree but I see what your saying. Glad your leaving your Biscayne as is. I think the history and character is more important than having a perfect floorboard for show. Everyone goes crazy over a cars history so why not leave a little of it there!

[Chevy454]

I'm not sure how "interested" you guys might be in this, but I found this while checking up on the "competetion": http://buickgsca.com/ubb/Forum23/HTML/000056.html

This is a thread on the Buick GS Club of America ( http://buickgsca.com/ ). I found it while trying to find a couple of the Buick owners that I saw in Michigan, and this thread covers how some of them feel about the Pure Stock Drags. They seem to feel that the Buick's are just naturally faster than the other makes, and that they diserve more credit...any thoughts?