FYI, a true account. Nick Mazzarelli (SP?) owned a body shop in St. Clairsville, Ohio in the late 1960s up until the mid 1970s. Nick was a Mopar nut and he had informed all the late model salvage yards in Ohio, WV and PA that he would buy any wrecked Mopar with a 426 Hemi and pay top dollar for it. In either 1973 or 1974 a Cleveland salvage yard called him and said they had just got in a blue 1971 Hemi 'Cuda convertible that was a total and asked if Nick was interested. He was and bought the car.
My best friend Eric Wheeler was Nick's best friend and Eric told me that Nick had bought a car that he thought was rare and was going to rebody it. Nick found a 1971 'Cuda convertible in Wheeling, WV, on a used car lot, I think it was a red 383 auto car and he bought it. Nick ordered all the correct hemi parts needed to put the hemi engine in the 383 car from the local Chrysler dealer Richland Motors in St.Clairsville. He swapped the dash boards of the two cars, painted it the original blue and voila, instant 1971 hemi 'Cuda convertible. He sold the car several months later. Nick's business burned to the ground shortly after that and he moved away. Nick was not attempting to defraud anyone just make a buck. Back then it was just another two year old 'Cuda that was reclaimed from the bone yard, in fact I believe he sold the car for about $4500.00. I don't think he changed the radiator support numbers, or the numbers in the trunk rain gutter. I'm not sure about the fender tag. Supposedly the original car had struck a bridge abutment at about 120 MPH and the driver was killed instantly.
Benji
