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Location: So. Cal | I've been seeing more of these lately. I personally don't like them because the last thing I want to see is some new car interior in my old car, but I do appreciate the desire to get a better handling suspension on a '55-'56 car. Doing it to a '57-up car seems like a lot of effort for almost no benefit though. Welding the body to a unibody frame is just crazy, as you could accomplish the same thing by just replacing the frame, and the structural integrity of the end result would be very questionable.
One thing I have considered doing is to replace a '55-'56 frame with a '57-'59 frame. That would be an interesting upgrade that I might like. But I don't think I have ever seen someone do that. I know that the early frame is wider than the newer one from the firewall back, so that makes it a lot of work getting the mounts fitted in the right places.
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| The Imperial is impressive and a TON of money to have it done. And its simple a new car with a body kit on it... I kind of lean toward resto mods due to that, you retain the suspension and feel but get some modern conveniences (and a bit of safety). You get a lot of safety with the imperial(airbags are probably not working). but way more than the old car. And performance of course.
Edited by mikes2nd 2022-08-10 4:57 PM
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| I think it's fantastic! why not have a car that drives like new but with the stunning good looks too. there are days I almost wonder how much effort it really would be to just body swap my wagon onto a Ram 1500 chassis and call it day. lol
Edited by SlamminWagon 2022-08-11 11:38 AM
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Location: northern germany | SlamminWagon - 2022-08-11 11:37 AM
I think it's fantastic! why not have a car that drives like new but with the stunning good looks too. there are days I almost wonder how much effort it really would be to just body swap my wagon onto a Ram 1500 chassis and call it day. lol
How ingnorant can you be? I would race your Ram 1500 any day with my slightly modified 60 Fury. This Fury out corners and out handles a 2015 Mercedes CLS, that I drive now daily. I smoked about any new performance car with 400, 500+ HP so far in the past 30 years.
These are terrible creations, destroyed by people who should buy a new car in the first place. Gay millenials, who are too stupid to tune a carburetor. Tattoed computer ***s, that want to act cool and manly, but are afraid of real cars, that could soil their little fingers.
PS I'm not into new crap cars, so I had to google "Ram 1500". I thought it is a pick up truck with a solid axle, but when I read the post, I thought, he can't mean that to improve roadability of a FL! Absurd! I run circles arounf any of these. Again, how ignorant can you be? The thought of these great cars in the hand of ignorant people who do not know anything about physics, suspension and hot rodding, yet cut these cars up, because these nitwits think everything thats from the 50s is bad, makes me cringe.
Again, my basically stock 60 Fury outhandles the CLS in the pictures below. It even has the AMG package (whatever that means).
Edited by 1960fury 2022-08-11 8:13 PM
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| 1960fury - 2022-08-11 12:09 PM
How ingnorant can you be? I would race your Ram 1500 any day with my slightly modified 60 Fury. This Fury out corners and out handles a 2015 Mercedes CLS, that I drive now daily. I smoked about any new performance car with 400, 500+ HP so far in the past 30 years.
These are terrible creations, destroyed by people who should buy a new car in the first place. Gay millenials, who are too stupid to tune a carburetor. Tattoed computer ***s, that want to act cool and manly, but are afraid of real cars, that could soil their little fingers.
PS I'm not into new crap cars, so I had to google "Ram 1500". I thought it is a pick up truck with a solid axle, but when I read the post, I thought, he can't mean that to improve roadability of a FL! Absurd! I run circles arounf any of these. Again, how ignorant can you be? The thought of these great cars in the hand of ignorant people who do not know anything about physics, suspension and hot rodding, yet cut these cars up, because these nitwits think everything thats from the 50s is bad, makes me cringe.
Again, my basically stock 60 Fury outhandles the CLS in the pictures below. It even has the AMG package (whatever that means).
seriously? why do you even care what others do to their cars? does that somehow harm you? if someone wants a classic with modern conveniences then so what? I'm not saying you have to like it but I think it's kind of silly to go so far as disrespect it (or insult me for that matter) just because it's not what you would do.
I guess I forgot hot rodding isn't about trying new or different things. there are very specific rules that must be followed, right? shame I was hoping to enjoy the car I bought in my own way. but I guess that's incorrect.
p.s. completely confess I'm pretty ignorant as I've only owned my wagon for a few months. I know how dare I even entertain the idea of trying to easily and cheaply score 4 wheel disc brakes, rack and pinion steering, and a 4 link rear suspension not to mention the ability to find parts that just about grow on trees. sorry my Ram drives and cruises great (don't care about speed), it just does. and I'd love for my Wagon to handle just as good so...oh well guess you'll just have to hate my idea and somehow stomach the idea that someone out on the internet doesn't agree.
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Location: northern germany | SlamminWagon - 2022-08-16 12:56 PM
seriously? why do you even care what others do to their cars? does that somehow harm you?
I don't think you will understand. It got something to do with the love for Forwardlook cars and their period of time. Gutting them and turning them into new cars, is literally destroying them. Yes, and that makes me sad, as the future generation, really into 50s American cars, should have the opportunity to drive these cars too, not sad, liveless, sterile hulls, or remains of what was once a FL, needlessly destroyed by selfish, ignorant wannabe hotrodders.
As if a FL car can't be fast and convenient. They were good enough for you ancestors, but ok, this was in the 50s, when America still looked like America, men were still men and not tattoed to the max smart asses, that are wimps, but look like savages straight out of the jungle.
After that absurd Ram 1500 statement, I can't even take you seriously. Better buy a Stellantis Hellcat.
Edited by 1960fury 2022-08-16 8:38 PM
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| wow i've never heard anyone refer to a Hellcat as a "sad, liveless, sterile" car before. bah doesn't matter I don't need hellcat power. I originally toyed with the idea of a prius powertrain swap as it'd be awesome to hypermile a big fat wagon but setting up the hybrid system is a little complex to say the least.
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Location: N.W. Fla. | SlamminWagon - 2022-08-17 1:36 PM
wow i've never heard anyone refer to a Hellcat as a "sad, liveless, sterile" car before. bah doesn't matter I don't need hellcat power. I originally toyed with the idea of a prius powertrain swap as it'd be awesome to hypermile a big fat wagon but setting up the hybrid system is a little complex to say the least.
Pretty cool rebody. On another Forum a Challenger was turned into a Mad Max Black Interceptor. But..a Pruis powertrain is just nuts.... |
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Location: WHEELING,WV.>>>HOME OF WWVA | the forums majority stand has always been , its you car do as you please! i think if you can rebody a nice example
its cool ---------------------------------------later |
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| lol yeah do what you want... most cars that have been restored are already restored/saved...
Too far gone cars are now parts cars and being scrapped... Save rusted out sedans? thats sounds like and investment worse than crypto... you can buy perfect sedans for 1/4 the price of the restore.
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| I saw the white car at Goodguys Columbus and it was spectacular |
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Location: Blythewood, SC | 60 dart - 2022-08-19 11:33 PM
the forums majority stand has always been , its you car do as you please! i think if you can rebody a nice example
its cool ---------------------------------------later
I never thought I'd type this, but I agree with Chuck. My cars are for my onw enjoyment. I don't really care what the internet thinks. If I want to put a Mercury outboard motor adapted to a Nissan 5 speed gearbox in my 57 Plymouth, that's my car and my business.
Those rebodies in this thread look very well done. And I'm sure they are comfortable to drive with easy to source parts. Honestly, if I had one of them I would never think twice about driving them daily. My old flathead powered 57 with no A/C in the South Carolina summer sun? Well, I drove it daily for 6 years and it's not as comfortable or easy to live with in modern times.
To each their own. |
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Location: So. Cal | So put A/C and fuel injection on your original car. Done, without all the work of destroying the vintage value of your '57. When you're driving, you don't see the tail fins unless you look for them, you can't see the front grill and the hood isn't dramatically different from other cars. What you see and experience as you are driving is really the interior and the drivetrain. Sitting in those heavily modified cars, you feel like you are driving a new Challenger, because you really are driving a new Challenger. You see the old body from the outside, but you don't get to experience that while driving. So you might as well buy a new Challenger and save yourself all the trouble. There's nothing really wrong with a new Challenger body either, why not stick with that and save yourself a huge amount of trouble?
My point is that a '57 car can be built to be all those things without going through this huge destructive transformation. I'm in no way in favor of trying to control what people do with their cars either, but there's a difference between good decisions and bad ones. I submit that the decision made to convert the '57 Firesweep above, was a bad decision. What did he really accomplish with all that work? Like I said at the top, I can understand people wanting to improve the suspension on a '56-older car. They definitely could benefit from an updated suspension if you don't like the feel of driving an early '50's car around, but there are good ways of doing that and bad ones. Nevertheless, if someone really wants to drive around a new Challenger, but tack an older body onto it, I won't try to stop them, but I won't applaud them either. |
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Location: WHEELING,WV.>>>HOME OF WWVA | 57plymouth - 2022-08-26 6:48 AM
60 dart - 2022-08-19 11:33 PM
the forums majority stand has always been , its you car do as you please! i think if you can rebody a nice example
its cool ---------------------------------------later
I never thought I'd type this, but I agree with Chuck. My cars are for my onw enjoyment. I don't really care what the internet thinks. If I want to put a Mercury outboard motor adapted to a Nissan 5 speed gearbox in my 57 Plymouth, that's my car and my business.
Those rebodies in this thread look very well done. And I'm sure they are comfortable to drive with easy to source parts. Honestly, if I had one of them I would never think twice about driving them daily. My old flathead powered 57 with no A/C in the South Carolina summer sun? Well, I drove it daily for 6 years and it's not as comfortable or easy to live with in modern times.
To each their own.
awhhhhh , you're so sweet!!!!! but it aint the first time old timer!!!!!! |
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Location: So. Cal | The gray '56 Imperial above was listed on BAT and bid up to $58K, but didn't meet reserve. That's more than I thought it would go for, and way more than I would be willing to spend on it, given that this is what I would be looking at while driving it.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/custom-1956-imperial-2007-dodge-ma...
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| thats pretty nice... im doing that with my 70 gto... and a 2004 Gto |
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Location: Southern Sweden - Sturkö island | For sure, a lot of work and craftmanship went in to those projects only to kill the soul of those classic cars. Last one is a Chrysler 300, had one of those for several years, good car with no soul, xchanged it for an old Buick Estate Wagon with attitude and soul. |
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Location: Eastern Iowa | At car shows, I don't even give cars like that a passing glance, tye same with all the tri 5 bowties or modern so called muscle cars.
These are what make up the bulk of entries at shows nowadays in this neck of the woods. |
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Location: Perth Australia | My opinion (and thats what this thread is about) is torn. I am far from a purist, but I agree that changing the "bones" of a car, rips out its soul.
That said, If I got a car that had been on fire or maybe a picked over hulk salvaged from Big M's yard (for example) that was basically a shell, well a resto mod
would definitely be on the cards and especially if the floors were gone as well. I call them Zombie cars, alive, but dead.
I can definitely appreciate the work and skill that goes into one and appreciate that the car is on the road (or at least going) and not a soup can.
I must say that to rubbish someone because they like or plan to do this to a car though is not on. You are allowed your own opinion, but that does not give you the right to
put someone down because it doesnt suit your tastes or beliefs.
I own my car and how I build it is my decision. I am not doing a resto mod and it will basically be the same as it was when it was made, but it wont be the same.
People slamming other peoples builds (and it was for minor modifications) caused a lot of people to disappear from this forum. Ok to say its not to your taste, but the rhetoric
above is too much.
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Location: So. Cal | It's clear that there are people out there that like this sort of thing because otherwise that silver Imperial wouldn't have bid up that high. But I would seriously rather have the 2018 challenger, or whatever it was, untouched than to have that Imperial. And I would rather have the original Imperial with modest upgrades than the Challenger. It seems to me that the crowd that likes this sort of thing, is the same crowd that would instantly swap an LS engine and Camaro subframe into a 300D or 300F. Why not, it's a huge improvement right? It's his car to do with as he pleases, and you're not allowed to criticize him, just say: Great job! That's so cool!  I guess that's how the Southern saying "Bless your heart" came into being. I could just say that.
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Location: So. Cal | I wasn't raised in the South, so I'll need some practice. How's this:
Isn't he the creative one, bless his heart.
https://www.autotrader.com/oversteer/chevrolet-camaro-z28-retrobody-...
Edited by Powerflite 2023-04-07 6:57 PM
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| I would only do this with a car that is a goner... i think this is typically the case... although ive seen rich guys do it with pristine vehicles and car builders do it also..
I mean graveyard cars did it...
But it is their car... and your not driving it... so what do you car about the soul of the car... I can admire good craftsmanship either way.
And you get modern performance with classic looks and that is farking cooler than having a plain old OEM build of a car that there is already thousands out there already.
IF the car is common who gives a s**t... a mustang? My GTO was a shell of car... not much else.
I street rodded my plain jained coronet/royal into a Regal Lancer tribute car with a 392 hemi and a ford 8.8 rear posi with 4 wheel discs and power leather seats.
Did i remove the soul of the car? The car had no soul... and was destined for the scrap heap where hundreds of thousands already died... lol yes you lose the vintage ride but you can simple ride in a factory car...
I will say I cant really admire the RICH guy method of slapping sheet metal on a 99% new car.... and that 57 chevy is fugly and needs crushed... you have to do it right... and that imperial looks done right
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| and those 56 cars are serious work and craftsmanship... their owners wanted looks and performance... they got them
not so much with the desoto and 57 Chevy... |
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Location: North Germany | Everyone is allowed to do what he wants with his car - it is his car. And others don't have to like it either.
I drive old cars because I like the design and the interior. Especially with my 61 NY I find the interior unique. I would never think of changing the exterior or even the interior, even totally different seats I don't find suitable. I am open to conversions that you do not see , so eg modern brakes and suspension. In an older car as a daily driver I could imagine possibly install a new engine / transmission. But at the end the car ist lost.
My daily driver is a Mercedes CLS from 2014 and I can not do anything with this car. It does everything it is supposed to and it is like a vacuum cleaner - lifeless. I also have constant problems with the electronics . I don't build that into a vintage car then either.
Here in Germany there is a company that rebuilds the Mercedes 300 Gullwing with modern engines, chassis, interior. There are people who spend a lot of money for something like this - for me this car is lost.
But everyone has a different opinion and that's fine.
Roger
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Location: Perth Australia | Looks like someone has just started another
https://www.forcbodiesonly.com/mopar-forum/threads/bas***dized-1959-...
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Location: The Mile High City | I liked this fella's creation! https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/automobiles/collectibles/22MARQUIS.html
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| the 59 dodge doesnt look like it will work at all.. no chance... itll look like a pile of sh*t.
that desoto marquis is not good either... ut its better but still a 4 or 5 out of 10...
but it is their vehicles.
It takes a LOT of work to achieve balance and uniformity on a vehicle design... slapping s**t on the side of another car doesn't work... |
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Location: So. Cal | Walking around the Spring Fling show, I came across this gem. Some creative genius came up with this meld of what looks to be a 1990-ish Cadillac with a '59 Dodge. Wow, isn't that great? Bless his heart. A true artist here, like Picasso. It warms my heart to see those rare custom Royal Lancer emblems being put to perfect use on his door panels to remind you that this isn't just any ordinary 1990 Caddy.
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Location: Eastern Iowa | Yeah, looks like it's garnering a lot of attention as well!! |
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| no no no... the whole thing is f'ed.. even the front wheels are too far in... interior is sh*t... |
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Location: Branson, MO | I’m not impressed either. Just not my cup of tea. |
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Location: Southern Sweden - Sturkö island | Very ugly car - all gone to waste |
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Location: North Germany | From the outside she looks nice, only the wheels are ugly (in my opinion). But inside? American Horror Story . Sorry, just my 2 cents. Roger |
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Location: WA/USA | I looked this car over at the Spring Fling also. For me, the fail on this car is the flat windshield, wiper/cowl area, and ugly A-pillars. It just does not fit the rest of the car. Otherwise it could have been a neat hotrod. While not a fan of the dash, I get why it was used.
You have to wonder.... 20 years from now will it be harder to find maintenance parts for a 59 Dodge, or an 80's Caddy? |
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Location: So. Cal | Definitely harder to find the 90 Caddy parts. The large slant in the rockers was a big turnoff for me, when I first saw it. |
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| wtf is the wheels also? I find those in the scrap pile... |
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