GM Nationals in Carlisle 6/24 - 6/26

[Supercar_Kid]

You're right Charley, the cowl was in good shape...and it used to be a Camaro convertible, but now it's simpy the means for someone to recreate a new '69 Camaro using a repro body shell and titling it as a legit '69 with the original VIN.

IMO, whenever a car is split through the rockers and essentially cut down to nothing but a cowl (and having it's VIN tag drilled out and reinstalled) should be issued a reconstructed title. I doubt this is the case with the cowl for sale at Carlisle since it wouldn't have much value if it was an R title. The VIN was obviously being held for disclosure.

I don't argue that the cowl is the heart of the car, and I'm a preservationist too, I'd like to see all '69 Camaros properly restored, but to take a '69 Fisher cowl like that and then create the other 80% of the car out of modern reproduction overseas sheetmetal, and call it a legit '69 with "hidden VINs" is clearly stepping into a gray area.

I think these new cars should be issued street rod type titles to separate them from real GM 69s. I also think cars that are as far gone as that cowl was at Carlisle, need very special consideration before warranting a rescue. Remember, they made over 200,000 Camaros in '69...do you really need to by a new one and stitch it to an old cowl? Who are you fooling? What are you restoring, a '69 Camaro cowl? Even if the car does have some significance, in example the sellers of the new repro 69 bodies at Carlisle metioned to me that someone had recently purchased one to rebody a 69 Z11 Pace Car that had literally "broken in half" during transport. Sure, it's nice to rescue a Pace Car that far gone, but is that Pace Car's cowl on a 2005 Taiwan made body a "restored" '69 Pace Car? Not to me it isn't. If it was a festival car you would have a dash frame and firewall that went around the track in 69, and 80% of a car that didn't even exist until 2005. That's a restored '69?