RE: Converted 4-door

[Steven Charette <stevec@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dave and Tom,
	This is an interesting discussion... at what point does one cross
the line when replacing parts?  We're doing a '64 Savoy right now and are
replacing the floor, trunk floor, firewall, cowl, trans crossmember,
K-member, inner fenders, fenders, hood - you get the idea.  We'll make it
look fairly "correct", but it will always be just a clone.

	There is a local guy selling a '70 or '71 E-Body (not sure which)
firewall section - it was saw-zalled across the a-pillars, through the floor
ahead of the trans crossmember, and down the front of the firewall.  It's
basically just the firewall and vin tag with some cowl pieces... if one were
to buy this and build a car around it, is it still that car?

	IMHO it's just a matter of replacing parts.  To put it in context:
if you had an original 64 Hemi lightweight car and it burned in a fire, or
was destroyed in a tornado, and you rebuilt it, is it still an original car?
What if you re-bodied it with a slant six body?  Now what if some guy buys a
cowl section (as described above) and uses junkyard parts to complete the
car?

	The real problem arises when somebody tries to pass off a converted
four-door as an original aluminum nose car or something like that... you
gotta know that some opportunist has done something like this.  But what
about a guy (I have a friend locally doing one) builds a '64 Belvedere two
door from a low-mileage 4 door, adds a max wedge with all the correct stuff,
just for his own enjoyment?

	I don't think local law enforcement would press the issue unless
someone actually forced it... if the vin matches the registration they
probably have better things to do than check to see if the car is "correct".
Other states may be more aggressive, as with inspections and the like.  Here
in Michigan it's pretty lax... there was a guy at our local show last
weekend with a car built out of wood.

	Sticky issue... anybody else?

SC

-----Original Message-----
From: dwalters@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:dwalters@xxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2009 3:23 PM
To: 1962to1965mopars@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Converted 4-door



Tom Watters wrote:
> 
> Hi Dave,
> 
> How can you tell its a converted 4-door body?
> 
> http://www.moparsbymosher.com/projects/tonys64dodge/body&paint/underca
> rriage-03.html
> 
> 
> 
> 
> dwalters@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > oparsbymosher.com/projects/tonys64dodge/body&paint/undercarriage-03.
> > html
> > 
> > rear '64 Dogge
> >
> > I'd never spend that kind of money on a converted 4 door body. But 
> > hey, nothing a little VIN/SO swapping wont fix...
> >
> > Dave Walters
> > Aurora, Co.

Hey, Tom. Good to see you're still nosing around in the hobby. I should stop
by to see you on the way to the Fall Fling. You heard DJ (Prowler) was shot
and killed in his house, didn't you?

To answer your question, if you look at the progress pics all the way back
to when the car was dropped off at Mosher's you'll plainly see it's a
converted 4 door car. IMO, if it's just going to be an anonymous race car,
no problem. Unless the VIN tag is swapped how is this car going to pass any
sort of state inspection? VIN tampering is a Federal crime. 
There's a guy here in Denver that can't get rid of an "A990" car because he
swapped the VIN tag and the package tray containing the partial SO number.
If you don't swap the VIN tag and you're stopped by the police and they
notice the title/registration shows a 4 door vehicle instead of the Post car
that he pulled over, then what?

Most cars leaving Mosher's shop have $100,000 in them. I know I wouldn't
want to gamble that amount of money on an "understanding" buyer. And I can't
imagine a converted 4 door bringing the same resale dollars that an original
Post car would. 

[gets off of soap box]






Dave Walters
Aurora, Co.


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Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person.  I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic.  Thanks!

'62 to '65 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines:
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html.