<VV> rebodied corvairs

[Mark J. Murphy]

I say that if you purchased the body (or it was otherwised acquired legally)
as just another restoration part, same as you would a head, crossmember,
fender, front clip or anything else, then IMO you are entitled to change
that part on your car and keep your VIN... just because the tag is affixed
to it and has to be moved shouldn't matter.  Nobody thinks twice about
swapping out an engine and putting their accessories back on, and very few
see it as anything more than a repair to the car... same thing.  If it makes
you feel better to think this way, don't swap the VIN, just cut all the
rotted stuff away from around the VIN plate and weld in replacements from a
donor car.   You didn't really create or "fake" anything, you replaced parts
as a repair.  Unless you represent it as "all original" there is no fraud,
no injury to anyone, and no crime.

I ran into a "rebody" issue of a different sort, and likely will again real
soon.  I built a VW based dune buggy, essentially moving all the VW stuff
into a new shell, and tried to play within the confines of the DMV rules...
the decision was split because it still had the chassis, engine, etc and
serial so it was that car, but it did not look like a Beetle therefore it
was a composite.  Huge debate.  In the end, it's titled as a VW Beetle with
the original credentials. <shrug>  I will soon be assembling another 'glass
kit car with a Corvair drivetrain, front and rear suspension, lights, etc.
in a tube chassis.  This will likely be titled with the credentials from the
rustbucket Corvair that donated most of the parts and is being cut up for
disposal.  In my eyes, I replaced a rotted out structure/body with new
parts.  Who gets hurt?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      ,-----___\----,    Mark Murphy
      \--(o)----(o)--'  Derry, NH, USA
    http://m.j.murphy.home.comcast.net/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <NicolCS at aol.com>
To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 12:09 AM
Subject: <VV> rebodied corvairs


> I've been watching this thread and boy does it make me uncomfortable.
The
> line between fraud and practicality is pretty blurry here.  I think the
best
> way to decide is to imagine yourself in front of a judge, facing some kind
of
> big fine or jail term - remember the distinction between this and the
> activities of a chop-shop is more or less indistinguishable. Also, there's
the
> problem of fraudulent cars - is a "real" 64 Spyder more valuable than a
"faked-up"
> '64 Spyder?  If it's my money, you bet!