In the words of that immortal poet Homer Simpson "Mmmmm Redline BMX bike"
OK back on topic:
I think all of us have this dilemma on some level or another. On my Datsun 1200 the shell is original but I've replaced the front fenders & valance, the entire front suspension is modified 280ZX, the transmission is from a 210, the rear end is from a Datsun 510 wagon with a roadster LSD unit, the leaf springs are 280ZX. Even my motor is from a Japanese home market car, I use a Sentra radiator, the trans and engine mounts are fabricated units. The wiring harness is from two different cars. As with many cars there a whole host of things that are no longer stock.
So back to the car at hand, if you have to replace half the sheet metal to eradicate the rust then half of the car is no longer stock. I'm with the rest of the people here, buy a nice two door shell and keep enjoying the car.
I realize you plan on being buried in your car - but its a pretty significant issue legality-wise. Boyd Coddington almost went to the pokey over doing something similar and he had better lawyers than you do.
And that Redline bike, as sweet as it is, isnt your bike, its a tribute bike. I still have my Dyno Detour from middle school in my basement, so I am a bit biased on that subject.
This soapbox I am on, its the same soapbox I always had, except it didnt start out as my soap box, it was a different one. I cut it down because my old one I always thought was a bit too high, changed a few things, and painted it red, even though my old soapbox was black, because I always wanted a red soap box. So this is the same one I have always had, I just changed a few things. One of the nails holding it together is the same, I re-nailed it a few years ago and they were nice nails so I just reused them.
I get where you’re coming from on the legality. The numbers are on the door jamb and frame. There are people that go so far as to build a jig to hold the section of body with the tag to the frame and rebuild around that, especially in cars where the dash is the holder for the tag and prone to rusting out dangerously close to it. That’s probably the route i would have to take, because the tag is welded to the a pillar. It all comes down to the question of which part does the paperwork follow? The same number is stamped on the frame. So if you re-shell it like the british car guys do because their tubs rot, which part does your title follow because the number is in two locations? I’m not opposed to cutting and splicing, but i’m also not going to go blab on the internet about which route is taken because I don’t even know if i’m getting it yet. Another idea was to find one that was bad in the floors and basically take the roof and rear quarters portion in one shot and graft it to the 4 door’s a pillars, firewall and floors because they’re the only good parts left.
Either way I fully understand tampering laws and do my best to not run afoul of the feds. I’m just really not concerned about the lack of title on a 64 year old shell. There are legal ways to obtain one.
My dad was a state trooper, and his viewpoint of the vin plate laws was more about the intent of the law than the letter of it. He always told me that, to change a part of a car with a VIN plate was illegal, and it was illegal to put the proper vin plate back on the part that was changed. He also told me that, even though the state would have a problem with you doing it, that it wasn't *morally* wrong as long as you weren't doing it to defraud anyone, such as trying to hide a stolen car, etc.
Since he told me that, "the hobby" has definitely taken a mile with the inch they were given.
The state has no idea of what "sentimental value" is. They would have you put a perfectly good car in the junkyard because the vin-bearing door rusted out, or got dented.
