I have been cleaning up a steel 32 body for a while and about 70% through the patch work and then a good few months to do the blocking and paint. I am at least a year away from paint. I like going slow. Lots of patchs. Locally there is a really nice Pete and Jake chassis car, already properly registered in California. But it has a bad glass body, glass fenders very cheesy 80/90 style. No idea why it has the body it does on it its like somebody took the good steel body and slapped the glass on top to sell it. But its cheap and has the drivetrain I want in it and with 5K miles it is shaken down. I can get the whole car for about 10K less then it would cost me to fab/buy all the parts not even counting the time savings. Not counting selling the glass body, interior and the very nice top it has. I might have to powdercoat the chassis after setting up all the mounts I would need to move a few things around its a list but it seems more manageable then doing everything from scratch especially registration. Has anybody done something like this and found that it actually saved cash in the long run. Or is it just better to just do it from scratch and eat the cost and increased time. I have more time then cash for this build. It a longer term project.
I haven't done it, but it sounds like the way to go. Plus you can sell the glass body and recover a bunch of your investment. If the interior from the glass body fits your metal body that's a money saver also. Doing it this way gets you on the road at least a year or two sooner than building a chassis yourself.
It depends on how it was registered. If it got a California blue tag for the serial number, and that number got put on the body, swapping bodies is a no-go.
I'll regret asking, but here goes, California puts a serial numbered plate on the one part that never saw the inside of a Ford factory in 1932?
This one is registered as special construction because of the replacement chassis. That is the correct way to do it and after dealing with California. Tag is on the chassis so its just a rebody which is legal. California is getting nuts on vin verification on hot rods at least locally and almost everything is being sent to CHP for SPCN or SB100 registration. So this solves that because it is already correctly done. I am 14 months into registering a vintage Porsche replica that I built and I don't think I am ever going to get it past the inspectors.
I thought about buying a brookville body & swaping it for the glass body on a roadster I bought but then thought it would look exactly the same as it did.but still think it would be an economical way to go if you like the chassis if your going to change a bunch of stuff maybe not so much.another upside would be you could drive the car you buy until you were ready to swap bodies
Yes, because it is NOT a 1932 Ford if it doesn't have a 1932 Ford frame with serial numbers. In that case it is a Specially Constructed Vehicle. A whole mess of people got pinched for having cars registered as what they appeared to be, that had ZERO parts whatsoever from what it was titled as. Boyd Coddington was one of them. Ever seen a fiberglass Willys tube chassis drag car with a Willys data plate riveted to the firewall? I have, and that guy lost that car! That's title fraud, and it's a felony in all 50-states (for you California haters).
I’m not talking about any of this title/tag stuff. What seems to be the sure thing.... most of the time has lots of unseen unthought of complications. Tread carefully.
Does the special construction title list the body style? Hopefully Cal DMV won't have a problem if your body is different style. I would say buy the glass car and swap the bodies. We're getting older and if that speeds up the build and gets you on the road faster the more fun you can have driving it. I have a similar but different problem. I just got a killer deal on an aftermarket chassis with OT independent suspension front and rear that actually matches my '80's build Tudor.
So pulled the trigger today. Got better photos and a video of the whole car and it is significantly better than I expected. Interior can be reused, has a full custom padded top, extra wheels, has more custom oil/line fittings then I have ever seen on a hot rod, new steering box, full build sheets for engine and transmission and receipts. Everything is powder coated. Has older QA1 style shocks, has much better chrome on the from axle then expected. It is a seriously solid car. Its a glass car and it's a modern styled body but I can sell that and the top and move everything I have over. I should be around 25K all in for everything including my patch panels and paint supplier on my body. If I sell off the extras I might get that down around 23K give or take which is a screaming deal for the build sheet and know that it will be reliable and comfortable enough that I can hand the keys to my extended friends to drive if they want. Honeslty I could see myself doing a bare metal body on this frame and having it look cool. i did that with my last chopper and I love how easy it is to maintain and I don't freak out of chips in the paint. Part of me is happy to have something to screw around with and drive, I have been up to my neck in customer/corporate work for so long that I honestly have not had a good Rod that I own to drive around and use on the weekends. Photos will come eventually but got a 5 hour drive to pick it up tomorrow to get it.
This should be fun to watch, the California DMV logic on this pile of parts. Hope it works out for you.
None in this case. It is already titled and registered as a SCV, Special Construction Vehicle, under the SB100 program, not a 1932 Ford. Don't guess. If you have questions, ask first. All 50-states will impound and crush a vehicle for questionable legal provenance. See my previous comment about the Willys. Dude had $90K in that fake car, and he lost it.
I did this same thing,plan was to buy it for the og 32 frame and title,,,figured the same,.. money and time ahead...but it turned out to be such good driving car... changing the body to brookville is a looser that just made me more time and money in the car.... so I keep messing with it all the while getting to drive it and enjoy it...pretty happy with the way it's turning out
Maybe not exactly on topic, but a got a fiberglass dune buggy with an ugly California VIN sticker on the dash that was re-registered in Colorado without any issues. Trying to figure out how to preserve it as it is the VIN on the pink slip and registration and I may use the components to build a V-Rod.
Does Colorado use metal tags to reissue vin numbers? If so I would see what they have to say about reissuing a tag to replace your ( soon to be) defaced tag.
I don’t think that I want to get into a reissue VIN as I had one for my Zipper and had to jump through some hoops. The CO tag is a metallic stick on. The title, registration and insurance all have the CA assigned VIN.
Not sure how that BAR vin tag would help you register a Volks-rod in Colorado. Those CA BAR tags are verification for CADMV that your vehicle is actually a SPCNS (Specially Constructed Vehicle) and therefore exempt from CA smog requirements under SB100. In addition, the numbers and bar codes are in the CADMV database. Don't know how Colorado DMV operates but if they were to inquire of CADMV, that may be a no go.
It's already registered in CO and I have 5 year collector plates along with a CO title. Again, title, registration and insurance all use the VIN on the dash sticker. According to the chassis number, it is a 1963 You have to remember that I live in a town where the PD will not write a ticket when a bike rack blocks the license plate!
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