so this 71 Hemi cuda is a rebody huh?

[TorOrange]

Well found this thread over at moparts

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=7391702&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1&nt=2

So I don't know anything about this car, but from what I gather is that this car was a typical rusty vert.
That is a real 71 hemi cuda and was restored with a low percentage of the original metal left. It looks like people consider this to be a rebody.

So..

My question is do you consider a car with a smaller percentage of its original metal that is restored to be a rebody? Lets consider only high option cars, since that is what people fuss over.

If so what is the least percentage of original metal a car must have to not be considered a rebody?

[cudabeforeIdie]

 


The Holy Grail....  I have a few months to save a million and what?

[ChallengerHK]

It's highly debatable. I've asked this question about my car years ago.

Morally and ethically, my opinion is that it's an original car if it has more than 50% of its unit body structure. Legally, however...laws are generally written by people who aren't knowledgeable about cars. Most of the laws that I've read read something like (it's a rebody if the VIN tag has been moved." The problems with that are:
1) The VIN in most of our cars is mounted to the dash pad, allowing it to be removed from the vehicle without being removed from its mount
2) As a good friend of mine pointed out years ago, you could build a jig around the cowl, remove everything else and replace it, and claim that the VIN was never moved.

[torredcuda]

I wouldn`t care how much of the metal had been replaced as long as they started with the original matching numbers shell or what was left of it.A rebody is taking a completely different body and swapping the vin tag over to it.

[1970 RT Challenger 1970]

 

[skdmark]

This is also known as "The Ship of Thesus" debate.
Does an object that has had most of parts replaced considered to be the same object or is it something else?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

['Cuda Hunter]

I wouldn`t care how much of the metal had been replaced as long as they started with the original matching numbers shell or what was left of it.A rebody is taking a completely different body and swapping the vin tag over to it.

I agree.

[1970 RT Challenger 1970]

This is also known as "The Ship of Thesus" debate.
Does an object that has had most of parts replaced considered to be the same object or is it something else?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

The Ship of Theseus debate, with the Hemi Cuda just turns into a never ending circle jerk!
Opinions are like AH's, and everbody has one.

[TorOrange]

I kinda agree with other but think a car should at least have some original metal.

[torredcuda]

But what makes the metal more important than the rest of the car?A car can be missing everything that bolts on and no one calls it a bogus car but start replacing too much metal and people scream rebody,I don`t get it. 

[ChallengerHK]

But what makes the metal more important than the rest of the car?A car can be missing everything that bolts on and no one calls it a bogus car but start replacing too much metal and people scream rebody,I don`t get it. 

I agree with you, Jeff, but as I've said elsewhere, as far as I'm concerned, a car which left the factory with a Hemi has exactly the same value as a car which left the factory with a slant 6 and received its Hemi later.

[dodj]

But what makes the metal more important than the rest of the car?A car can be missing everything that bolts on and no one calls it a bogus car but start replacing too much metal and people scream rebody,I don`t get it. 

I don't get it either. I'd pay more for a new (2012 metal)  '71 replica than I would for a '71 that was ALL original. Just cuz a car has old metal on it doesn't make it more valuable to me. But then I'm a little different in the 'originality' mind set. A 318 car that was transformed into a 440-6 car is worth the same $ to me as an original 440-6 car. 

[Chryco Psycho]

So now taking apart The Original body & repairing it extensively is still a rebody huh    BS IMO  ......so rather than fix one of the 14 Hemi verts a real documented car we should just  just crush it & write it off as lost  Why
 It must be weird to live in a black & white world where you drill out one too many spot welds & it becomes a rebody not a resto 

[js23nob]

i think it doesnt matter how much sheetmetal you change, as long as
its the original shell you started with, not just buy a slant six car
paint it up and change the vin numbers and fender tag,
if people are so blind to this then we wont see an cars restored
in the not to distant future. if it came out with a slant six,
then gets a hemi later on in it, its still just a slant six car, but with a hemi

[ChallengerHK]

i think it doesnt matter how much sheetmetal you change, as long as
its the original shell you started with,

Just to play Devil's advocate, what if you've got a car that needs floor pans, trunk pans, both quarters, and the roof replaced. Or, in the more extreme example, you do what my friend said: build a jig for the cowl, and remove and replace every other piece of metal. Is that the same car?

if people are so blind to this then we wont see an cars restored

PErhaps. Or, they might start restoring them for the love of the car, instead of keeping a mental balance sheet for the duration of the restoration, and calculating how much money they stand to make.