Wondering if anyone has ever bought one of those full unibody deals that Classic sells. I don't want one but I've been spending too much down time reading catalogs and dreaming about projects lately I guess. If you need to do wheel wells, floor pans, trunk pan, cowl, door posts etc. Heck I can see how it might save a lot of time and energy? Maybe even $. They cost 12K but they your done I guess. I can actually see myself moving all those details over... but man that's a big part to deliver!! I saw TV show where they used one to do a Camaro. I just thought is was interesting and wondered if anyone had ever used one?

I've not but but I hear you can't use a old Pontiac motor it has to be able to pass modern emissions

I’ve wondered how sturdy they are. It’s just a collection of crappy flimsy Chinese sheet metal welded together

I talked to a guy once that bought one and had close to 100k in it after it was completed. He said the guy from the resto shop told him he would never do another because of the nightmare getting everything to fit like it should. Just seems like alot of money to have tied up in a replica.

Interesting point... would it be a new car. Need a new VIN. Does it have a VIN? Hmm. Like when you build a totally custom car and need to inspect it to be on the road. You need to apply for a new title and everything from scratch. It varies by state i'm sure. But my buddy did that with a CJ build and he just put 67 on the paper work. Most of it was actually built on a 78 platform but used a 67 tub. No questions really. Titled it as a 67. I guess you never know. Until you know of course! And god help you if you live in CA.

It says they are licenced by GM but that doesn't really mean anything. Still can be a collection of cheap parts.

I think the theory is that you start with a rust bucket that is complete then you move all the usable parts to the new shell including the VIN. Otherwise there are a million parts you’d need to round up.

It’s all the crappy Chinese body panels we all complain about welded together into one big collection of crappy Chinese body panels.

No doubt there is a reason you don't hear about more people using them. Even with a million parts to swap.

You need a good steel panel shaper/welder, body man as like in the factory, panels don't come perfect.

The old VIN cannot be reused. The DMV will provide you with new one. Alter your VIN number and you gets into lots of trouble.

in this market why would you even bother with all the hundreds of hours of metalwork when you can buy a done car for a 1/4 of the price of building one?

Not that I disagree but so little about this life makes sense. Consider you buy a $5000 car. You put $40000 into it and she looks perfect. Congratulations you now have a $25000 car. WHAT And it took you a bazillion hours, nearly cost you a marriage and your relationship with your kids, and you haven't used your garage for anything else in 10 years! Nothing about it makes sense. And yet here we are. And loving it.

Can't put a price on doing what we love.

I have almost every record of what I have put into my car for the past 51 years. A couple times I began spreadsheets to document the records. While it might be nice to quickly find when specific work was done, I'm not sure I want to see a total cost.

Funny my wife seems to be able to put a price on it!!

They can always put a price on somebody else's stuff. But never on their own stuff.
My wife used to constantly biotch about my cars. Then about 10 years ago, I gave her her own '68 400 convertible for our 26th anniversary, and I haven't heard a boo since.

Yeah, I would say she has one of the best looking 68's I have seen- imo. It's gorgeous.

Well "our" bird was bought new by HER father in 69 and "we" inherited it. When it needs something, and it needs everything, or it costs money, which it always does, somehow it's about "ME" but when we are talking to people at at show etc it's "HER" car. Basically I just lose. But I did get a car out of the deal I guess. And that is pretty cool.

Although inheriting an old car is a lot like the gift of an elephant...

The Maharajahs of India used to give the nobles they didn't like the gift of an elephant. It was a great honor to have an elephant and to receive one. They were a sacred and revered animal. BUT... you could never get rid of it because it was such an honored gift and the [censored] things cost a near fortune to keep! All the food and care. And they lived a long long time.

So if you don't like someone... I mean really love someone... give them an old car! Such an honored gift! LOL

I have to believe this is the case. I recently bought a tub for my cj7 that fits his description to a tee. I think I’m going to wind up fixing my old tub rather than use the new one. It’s disappointing to have gotten burned and wasted money on a substandard product, but I suppose we live and learn.