Okay guys, 10 or 15 years ago a clone was a clone and it was well understood. I bought all of the SS stuff for mine about 17 years ago from "Chevelle Classics" (OPGI now) because I thought it was cooler looking than the common "Malibu" trim (mine is a 6-cylinder Malibu coupe, and #'s wise will always be regardless of what I do to it). I'm okay with that. I'm currently running a stout 350/700R4 combo and have a 496 on the stand being built for next year. My car has the 136 VIN tags and always will. I'm really getting burned out on the dealers out there who are taking totalled or rusted and unrepairable true SS car tags and selling them on Ebay for thousand of dollars. My 1st question is, how can someone totally redo a car and falsifyingly show it knowing that it's not what it says it is? Secondly, why would someone go through all of the work of restoring a car knowing it's a misrepresentation of what it's told to be? I realize that the bottom line on both of these questions is $ and the majority of these high-end clone restos are strictly for resale, which leads me to my 3rd question....How do these guys pull this off without getting their arms cut off? When you get down to it the whole business of selling falsely documented cars is just another division of mafia. A very lucrative division at that which needs to get a whole lot more attention than it currently does. I personally happen to be a very strict, inquisitive guy who notices many things that many others would never see, but what about the folks who don't build their own cars and are looking to buy a particular car they deem as being genuine? I'm very aware that this isn't a "new post". Where do the rest of you folks stand on this?

Funny this numbers stuff doesn't bother me at all. If a guy is hung up on numbers, let him learn what he needs to know to judge a car, don't go by some guys ad. If you are so knowledgeable about numbers that a car looks right, then don't worry about it. That means a guy has put together a perfect clone, so perfect you can't tell. It does have all the right pieces? It is put togerther right? No one can tell it's a clone? What is the problem. Pay the extra money for papers and numbers and be happy.

Otherwise buy a car for what it is worth to you and don't pay extra for any numbers stuff. A lot of the reason for this numbers game and clone cars are the guys that have become more interested in papers and numbers then having a nice car!

How do these guys pull this off without getting their arms cut off?

My observation is even with the sheer number of people here, the amount of folks who REALLY know what to look for, are probably pretty small in numbers. Lots of people love these cars, but few know whats correct for specific models.

Myself, I know a lot about 66's, but very little about about other years. I would say lots of these cars that are bought, are purchased on impulse.

I personally think it would be fairly easy to sell a very incorrect car to a mostly unsuspecting public. You would be surprised at the most basic of questions I see asked about correctness on cars that people already own.
Many of these questions should have been asked before the car was purchased.

I belong to several different internet car sites that are specifically for Chevys, I see question directed about Chevelles from car owners who don't even know a place like Team Chevelle exists. So the opportunity to get taken, or to take someone for their money is good. IMO.


Rocky

I could care less about numbers for cars that are mostly "drivers".

Clones make muscle car ownership a bit more affordable and if it gets hit, it does not hurt quite as bad.

For a select few special collector vehicles where there were very few produced, then I can see having documentation and genuine numbers. But then it becomes a "museum piece".

There are some pretty skilled crooks out there that can make your numbers matched car.

One thing about Canadian GM models is that you can go right back to GM and get all the build info for any particular VIN.

I agree with Rocky 100% :yes:

ahha ya theres more 70 ls6 chevelles running around now then there where back in 1970...... glad I dont have enough money to actually buy one of these 40-80k cars to worry about it

Maybe we should collectively buy them up, keep a database of the numbers, and destroy them. I thought it was illegal to sell them...

Getting Really Burned Out On Seeing SS Vin Tags For Sale


Here Davis, read my post on the subject.
This will really make your azz work buttonholes...

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=244195

Regards,
-Greg