Do you guys think that a complete fiberglass body kit would be a good investment at around $1,000. The company states that it only weighs around 100#. I am concerned about the doors. I want to be able to make them actually close, open and latch shut. Do you think this could work and how much work would go into a project like this?

Thanks,

newbie.

What does this fiberglass body look like? I mean, what kind of car?
If you are talking a Chevelle, a $1000.00 body would be a SHELL. One piece you would need to do all the hanging of doors and such. Let me put this in a nice way....about a thousand hours MINUMUM to do such an undertaking unless you are a pro who does this sort of thing for a living. If that is the case I'll bet it would still be 500 hours.

A weekends time is about 20 working hours, 1000 divided by 20 equals 50 week ends. So about a year of FULL weekends you could have it done.

I've seen fiberglass chevelle shells out there. You can get a 70-72 shell for $2200. I would be leary or driving a chevelle with fiberglass doors, let alone a fiberglass shell. If someone hit you, that would most likely be the end. Thats why my parents "gave" (sold) me my 71, because it was all good old steel.

you also have to think about resale of the car . Its not really a chevelle anymore with a full fiberglass body, meaning it doesnt have a chevelle/gm vin or cowl tag.

you better get real good at fiberglass work, because there will be lots of fiberglass work to do still. i put this fiberglass removable chopped top chevelle on hold after spending over a hundred hours getting it this far. http://hometown.aol.com/smartasreality/page01.html

FO, the part I don't get is, you went thru all the work on the roof and then you removed it to put a fiberglass one on?

i wanted a removable fiber glass hard top. like the old vets did.

Stick with the steel. A buddy of mine did a "repo"
Wyllys with the glass body, and said "Never again!!" You have to fabricate way too much, and it seems like the project will never end. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

It's for the forgotten years of the chevelle. 1977. There are a few company's out there that make the body shells.

Thanks for all the info. I have decided that I will probably just go with doors, hood, trunk lid, and front fenders. As for the rust problem on the top, I have a Landau top and was looking at the fiberglass as an easy way to forget about the rust all together. Thanks again for the help.