I just finished reading my October "Super Chevy" magazine's Chevelle Talk collum by Dick Brandt. In the article he discusses the line of reproduction bodies that Dynacorn will be bringing out. As most of you know the 69 Camaro body is available now. The article states "This is great news since the Chevelle bodies will not be too far behind with the 70 Chevelle convertible due out in about a year." I may be the only one here that doesn't think this is "great news", but I see the potential for all kinds of fraud. With the proliferation of fake build sheets, trim tags, etc. I predict that we will be seeing a lot of Cranberry Red ragtops that will of course have all their paperwork and matching numbers. The Camaro guys are dealing with this issue now. Is a complete reproduction body a replacement part? I don't think so. Yes it will be great for the guy with a rusty car to repair it but how many will begin as just a vin tag from a junkyard car. I don't want to keep a guy from building whatever car he desires but so far these Camaro bodies have been listed as a reproduction part. I think they should require a new vin similar to reproduction street rods etc. Which is the car, the Vin tag or the car itself. The lines are becoming very blurred.

I see the potential for all kinds of fraud. With the proliferation of fake build sheets, trim tags, etc. I predict that we will be seeing a lot of Cranberry Red ragtops that will of course have all their paperwork and matching numbers.

Is a complete reproduction body a replacement part? I don't think so. Yes it will be great for the guy with a rusty car to repair it but how many will begin as just a vin tag from a junkyard car. I don't want to keep a guy from building whatever car he desires but so far these Camaro bodies have been listed as a reproduction part. I think they should require a new vin similar to reproduction street rods etc. Which is the car, the Vin tag or the car itself. The lines are becoming very blurred.

Well, I think it is a "replacement" part, BUT technically (at least in California), you can NOT remove the VIN tag and place it on a different car... Of course that doesn't stop fraud... The car can still have the same VIN, but the tag would need to be supplied by the DMV/Highway Patrol/etc (same number, just no longer a "GM" tag)...

For the real big fraud (LS6 Convertible, etc), people would still need to get a Chevelle CONVERTIBLE VIN... Since the convertible VIN is different from the hardtop, I don't see it as being too bad...
Look at what "540Cutlass" (screen name?) did with the 71/72 cutlass, replaced all the sheetmetal with "1970 Chevelle" pieces... Its a nice 1970 Chevelle, but it really is a Cutlass (as noted by the VIN)...

Is it really going to be that much cheaper to buy a complete body ($9K+) or replace panels on a rusty body? The frame (convertible specific), top frame, etc all need to be had, so I don't see it as a real big issue... Whats the difference in some guy buying a wrecked Malibu convertible and rebuilding it by replacing separate panels as a "documented" SS, or someone buying a wrecked Malibu convertible and rebuilding it by replacing the body as one piece as a "documented " SS???

The only difference I see is that it might be less "cost", but still the same chance for fraud...

I'm a "restified" guy not a "restored" guy, so I may have different perspective. The street rod crowd has been dealing with after market bodies and frames for years and it's been good for the success of the hobby. GM hasn't made a rear drive mid size car using the "muscle car formula" since 1988 (unless you count the new GTO). If you want a muscle car, the supply will only continue to dwindle. The "raw materials" to repair and up grade our old bodies are limited with out this sort of influx. How will young guys get started in this hobby?

It's true that new Camaro and Chevelle bodies will make it easier for the dishonest purveyors of fraud, but they'll be good for the rest of the hobby. There are many examples of sub-assemblies that have made it easier to pull off fraud; disc brake kits, reproduction dash clusters, SS emblems and so on. If we wanted to stop the fraud, we should have been raising the flag when all of these types of items first became available, but we didn't because they were good for the rest of us. I think this will to.

I can imagine the day when we will talk about how to identify authentic 50 year old rust just like we talk about factory overspray patterns, fire wall markings, build sheets, etc. as we stay one step ahead of the fraud.

You guys make some very valid points. I guess we'll just wait and see what happens. My concern is not with the body, in fact it is with the possible Vin swapping. If that doesn't happen I'm all for it.

My concern is not with the body, in fact it is with the possible Vin swapping. If that doesn't happen I'm all for it.

Well, their is no doubt that it will happen. Their is too much money in this hobby now and there will be those who will stay up at night trying to think of ways to exploit that. It's kinda neat that they are making them, but it's kinda scary if your looking to buy a '70 convertible in the future.

If the current repro market tells us anything. The new body will likely not be exactly like the original. Just looks the same on the outside.

For all we know. They will make the firewall totally smooth for a nice custom appearence. Or several areas on the floorpan underneath will not have the same contours and bends that the originals have. I dont remember how close the Camaro bodies are to the real but I believe some changes were made. I dont think its going to be as easy as people may think to fake one of these new cars as an actual car built by GM in 1970.

I heard GM put a stop to the complete Camaro body and made them cut them up into seperate pieces.

Anyone know anything about that?

Fakes are being built now so it seems like all it would do is make it a little easier to build one.

I heard GM put a stop to the complete Camaro body and made them cut them up into seperate pieces.

Anyone know anything about that?

Fakes are being built now so it seems like all it would do is make it a little easier to build one.

I heard that there were problems with Chevy and the feds for VIN numbers.
A few months after that they started advertising them again so who knows.
I saw one at SEMA and it was poor quality.

I heard GM put a stop to the complete Camaro body and made them cut them up into seperate pieces.

Anyone know anything about that?
Here's my understanding on that Dean. When the Camaro bodies first came out the "quarters" were included. Don't know if it was GM or U.S. Transport that kind of said "That essentially constitutes a full bodied car". The latest I know is the "quarters" are not included with these bodies. I certainly stand to be corrected on my assumptions.

To be honest I don't have a real problem with this. If a car needs floor pans, trunk pans, windshield frames, rear upper panels, etc. - the new reproduction body could be just the ticket. If you replace every piece of the body individually does that make it different? Of course, I'm not as anal about all this stuff as some others. I'll let everybody else debate the prudence of taking a trim tag from your rusted out POS and put it on the repro body.

There was an ad in the latest Hemming's Muscle Machines magazine for the Dynacorn repo Camaro body and the heading was "Cleared for takeoff" so I'm guessing that means they got all the legal issues taken care of.