Fake Yenko Beats Real Yenko in show

[RichSchmidt]

Of course these arent exact numbers,but based on what is available in the"restorable" marketplace,and what I have seen coming up on the marketplace since the late 80's,this seems to be the trend.There are many cars out there that have been sheltered since the muscle car boom of the 80's,and just how many of these are bonafide originals with minor restorations compared to reconstructions of totally destroyed cars,will always be unclear.What we do know is that even by tracking the progress of many of the cars belonging to members of this forum and cars they post about,we are seeing that pretty much anything with pedigree is considred restorable no matter how bad the condition.Add that to the tons of legit"junk" that shows up on Ebay and in car trader rags,and you can see how the credibility of resored cars could be called into question.When top dollar is being spent to buy cars where the entire body is broken in half,the drivetrain is missing and there is no title present,just becuase the cowl tag lists the car as a bigblock convertable or some other rare find,you have be realistic about what we are offering.How about that ZL1 Camaro that claimed to have the original body including the tail panel despite the fact that the entire rear clip was cut out and replaced with a donor car and the rear tail panel was reattached.I am sure it is a nice car nonetheless,but if an insurance company were paying to fix that kind of damage,you can bet the car would have a salvage title when it was done.Somebody will eventually buy that car and if they werent told otherwise,they would belive that the entire rear structure of that car was the same rear structure that was under it when it was a new ZL1 back in 1969,yet the rear clip of that car could actually have been from under the bck of any 6 cyl grocery getter.In the meantime though,owners of such cars will bash those who simply take rust free base models and dress them up to look like a more desirable version.Lets face it,we are talking about a hobby where guys will casually mention that a car is a "rebody",despite the fact that the construction of such a vehicle is in totaly violation of federal laws.With the introduction of entire new body shells for some muscle cars,we are going to have to look over our shoulders even more since that entire situation attracts more potential for fraud.

I was just venting a bit on those who have such a problem with"tribute" cars,and their value.They compare them to a "tribute band",but in reality some of these legit cars would be as similar to seeing a real band as would it be to see a guy up on stage claiming to be a famous performer because he now has a vital organ transplanted out of this famouns person's dead body.Sure there may be a little bit of that old celebrity up there,but is having their kidney really make you what they are?Thats what it is when you rebody a car then restamp a non orginal engine for it,then throw a ton of repop parts on it.This stuff doesnt bother the purists as much as some guy using original parts to make a bogus car for his own enjoyment.What a load.

[Belair62]

Got your point. I guess there is no way to draw the line on when a car ceases to be a restoration candidate.Doubt we will ever get people to agree on something like that. I don't have a problem with clones and if people want to pay up for them I guess thats their business.

[Steve Shauger]

Like any car there are certain degrees of originality. To me the more original, the more valuable. I personally place a higher value on a survivor car than a restore car because with a survivor you know its true condition and what is original and what was replaced. Once a car is restored all the sins of the past are hidden unless you have a well documented disassembly and reassembly process. Cars that have a suspect past usually are uncovered in one way or another, and thanks to a site like this they are exposed for what they are or aren't.

Clones, tributes and now know as recreations certainly have a place. I am concerned that the really correct clones can or will be passed off as legit at some point. This is also the case for rebodied cars passed off as original.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Are we there yet? Been down this road a few times!

BTW Rich, the restamped plates situation has already happened. A legit buyer pulls this 'pulled from the crusher' car all they home to PA, never realizing that within a 1/2 hour of him the 'real' car is still with the 2nd owner from '73! The detectives are involved now, trying to sort it out

[SamLBInj]

What would happen if, lets say a 140K mile car had a total rebody and a salvage title. The guy takes it to a non-title state and throws the salvage title in the trash. He now sells it to a guy in a title state who gets only a bill of sale and goes over to the DMV and gets himself a new title for the car. Now all of a sudden he has an original 40k mile car with a clean title...Is this something to be aware of?

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

yes, and not just with old cars - it happens all the time with new cars too.

[Canucklehead]

That kind of stuff happens here in Canada as the east has stricter laws on used cars than alberta does and they flog alot of their garbage on us. Over the last few years it has benn getting better.
As far as the clone thing goes if you really want to look at it. If back in 69 the foundry is pouring the steel into the moulds and stamping out Camaro bodies with no designationas to weather they become yenkos or 6 banger grocery getters the "DNA" of all these cars are then the same, so what difference would it make to rebody a car with doner or nos parts?. I guess what im saying is at what point in the cars life does it officially become a collectable supercar?. 67-68 there was no difference from other cars of the same ilk coming out of the factory until they reached the dealership and suddenly the value triples!! And at that point just why is it that it stands out of the crowd and is "that" what we're here to preserve, i mean is'nt that why this board was created to preserve these cars?. Or is it the idea of these cars? To keep the lines clear on just what and where these cars are today so that the great unwashed know the difference and enjoy themselves whatever it is that they own?. Are we just being snobs to everyone else who dosent have a real supercar, or we just trying to keep things honest?.

[Steve Shauger]

Keeping things honest

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Keep it honest. Many a member of this board has expressed their 'thanks' for being tipped off that a particular car has 'issues'. No snobs here, just enthusiasts.

[SS427]

As well as many a member's car has gotten very positive reviews on here. Even when they weren't a Chevrolet.