Selling Trim Tags ?????

[Belair62]

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Now if somebody built a tag job car using a mint original survivor base model body with all the running gear and tags from a supercar,and then made the required trim upgrades with either the old parts from the supercar,or other real production car parts,even if the interior panels were a bit dull and scratched,and the windsheild had wiper marks on it,wouldnt it offer a more true feeling of being in the real experiance?

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So you are saying you would rather re-body a car than restore the crap out of a genuine car even though it is a hulk ? Thats a lazy and cheap way out. What experience would you be getting out of driving something that never was

[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?

[Rick H]

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

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I quess it all depends on which seller throws out the less

Originality wins out.

Rick H.

[PeteLeathersac]

If this hypothetical race car is a ZL1 and with a well known and racing successful history, perhaps after the "original" recreation ZL1 is finished and sold for 2.5M, the tube chassis and enough of the remains of the project would be available to rebuild back into the race car again, tagless or some variation using "enough" of the original race car?

[djunod]

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

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There are still too many variables... price? intended use?

The completely recreated car would be worth more if you intended to drive the car.

The original car would be worth more if you are a "collector".

[Belair62]

Personal preference I guess....would you buy a known rebody COPO that was sold as a set of tags if it was rebodied with a nice original base car ?

[SamLBInj]

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Personal preference I guess....would you buy a known rebody COPO that was sold as a set of tags if it was rebodied with a nice original base car ?

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Depends on price..key word is "known"

[Racefan]

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Personal preference I guess....would you buy a known rebody COPO that was sold as a set of tags if it was rebodied with a nice original base car ?

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That is my question exactly. Add to that, if I were going to buy such a car would anyone here who knew the history of said car tell me that it was a nice set of tags on a clean plain jane body?

[Belair62]

I would think you would hear opinions at least...

[njsteve]

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I would think you would hear opinions at least...

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And i think the most final opinion would be from your local or Federal law enforcement officer who would seize the car based on the VIN swap. Regardless of whether you would be prosecuted, you would lose the car and everything you had invested in it. It would never be returned and most likely would be scrapped based upon its contraband illegal status: a car with a known history of VIN tampering cannot be placed back in circulation.