All-New Steel Replacement Bodies

[Ed Blown Vert]

All-New Steel Replacement Bodies
Go ahead and blush, hot rodders. You have been handed an embarrassment of riches. Not quite three years ago HOT ROD gave you the word: '69 Camaro convertible replacement bodies were on the way-brand new ones, straight from the crate. As the hobby collectively held its breath, this miracle in blue steel actually came to pass. And as it turned out, '69 convertibles in virgin sheetmetal were just the start. Now there are '69 Camaro coupes, and '67 coupes and convertibles, and here comes a '67 Mustang fastback. And there's more, including a '57 Chevy convertible body in steel and a Camaro Gen I/Gen IV hybrid.And there will surely be more to come.
But first we need to lay down a few boundaries on these pieces. For example, the new Mustang body is not a Ford part. It's a Ford-licensed part, and Ford wants you to understand the difference. The Mustang name is one of Ford's most valuable brands, and the company guards it like a mother lion, rightly so. So to all parties involved, this is a Mustang replacement body shell. Dynacorn Classic Bodies manufactures the body under license from Ford Motor Company. Now what you do with the shell once you purchase it from a Dynacorn distributor like Year One is totally up to you: You can use it to replace the rotting husk of your original Mustang, or you can build your own Mustang dream car from scratch. It's your choice.
This whole trend is all about choice. If your passion is musclecars and street machines, you now have more options, more freedom than ever before. What we have here is the street-rodification of late-model street machines. By 1960, fiberglass T-bucket bodies began to appear as the supply of originals was drying up, and by the '70s Model A and Deuce replica 'glass bodies had come to market. In the '90s reproductions of vintage Fords in real steel from companies like Brookville Roadster, RodBods, and Dearborn Deuce became available. Demand drove the supply-the size and scope of the hot rod world was not going to be limited by a shortage of raw material. And now the same thing is happening with the succeeding generations of hot rods: the Tri-Five Chevys, Camaros, and Mustangs. There will be new bodies, for more rods and more rodders. The long and the short of it is this: With these new bodies, the musclecar era can live on forever.
If anything, the reproduction sheetmetal business was a little knocked back by the demand for complete bodies. It was initially assumed that the market would be driven mainly by high-end restoration projects like Camaro convertibles, which bring a pretty penny among the gold-chain set at Barrett-Jackson and elsewhere. Not really so, it turns out. The demand has been universal-across the breadth of the hobby. "If anything, the error was doing the convertible first," says Jim Christina of Dynacorn. So far demand has run slightly higher for the coupe over the convertible shell.
And they have been put to every purpose. If an old body is too rusty to save, it can simply be replaced, far more quickly and cost-effectively than attempting to salvage a hulk. "These cars are 40 years old now," says Jim. "Usually there's not much left. Not long ago I saw a Mustang that took $40,000 to get straightened out." Or if your heart's desire is, say, a phantom '67 Z/28 convertible, here's the starting point to invent your own from the whole cloth. Or if an original body is too rare and valuable to carve up with tubs and rollbar tubing, one of these replacement shells can serve as the basis for a Pro Street or Pro Touring custom, as radical as you please-without perpetrating any crimes against automotive history or committing financial suicide. Now there's more freedom and more cars to work with for everyone. These replacement bodies can ease the pressure on the absurdly escalating prices for original cars, and grow the sport at the same time.
"Since we started down the road on this program," says Jim, "we've heard everything from 'you're ruining the musclecar' to 'this is the best thing since sliced bread.' But really, we can't change the hobby itself. That won't change. We can benefit it, I believe. All we can do is provide the opportunity to build a car to people who wouldn't have the opportunity to build one otherwise."
None of this occurred by accident. Dynacorn and the other players in this business didn't just fall into it. They researched the market carefully first, studying their customers as well as their product. For instance, Dynacorn's Mustang replacement shell ($15,500 plus $495 crating fee) comes standard with FE big-block shock towers-correcting a notorious trouble spot on the early Mustang unibody.
Goodmark takes that good old hot rod thinking one step further with the Retro Rides concept. Starting with a first-generation ('67-'69) Camaro or Firebird as the donor, Goodmark will essentially blow the car apart and then totally reskin it with new sheetmetal, while dropping the whole assembly on a fourth-generation ('93-'02) F-Body floorpan and chassis. Prices range from $16,500 plus donor car for a bare unibody in epoxy primer (Phase I) to $27,500 for a roller with all exterior sheetmetal (Phase III). Turnkey cars are also offered to your wildest specifications. The Gen I/Gen IV hybrid approach has two benefits. First, you get old-school musclecar style with late-model comfort and performance. Next, the finished product can be titled and registered under the VIN of the '67-'69 donor car. It's a win-win deal. With the Goodmark/Retro Rides deal you can even have your choice of dashes: period authentic or late-model high-tech.
The '57 Chevy convertible restoration body manufactured by Experi-Metal of Sterling Heights, Michigan, contains a whole lot of new and just a little bit of old. The cowl and firewall are cherry, original 1957 stampings, so EMI is quick to point out their body shell is not a replica or a reproduction; it's a restoration body. But the rest of the components from stem to stern are brand-new steel, all several hundred of them. And, the company is proud to point out, the body is made and assembled right here in the USA, and sold by EMI's distributors: CARS Inc., Cross-Canada, and Sherman and Associates. The price is around $35,000, and if the demand is as expected, EMI plans to have a '55 Chevy convertible ready soon as well.
For having the foresight to jump in and lead the charge, credit should go to Rich Roberts of Promax Corporation with his Vennom cars. He spotted the street-rodification of musclecars as early as anyone. In 1999, recognizing the interest in what he calls "the late-model street rod" (flat nailed it, he did) he began building his Vennom '66 Novas. Constructed from fiberglass and composite rather than steel, like many modern street rods the Vennom is designed for style and function more than exact authenticity. The nose is stretched, and the greenhouse is laid back with a '69 Mustang windshield, while the floorpan can accommodate any gearbox including a Lenco. However, Roberts says his bodies are hardly bare race car shells; these are the real deal, carefully engineered for Pro Street or Pro Touring use. "I spent 11 months perfecting the body seals," Roberts told HOT ROD."It was by far the most difficult part of the project." Along with the '66 Chevy II-styled car, Vennom recently added a '70 Mustang to its line and currently has a '70-style 'Cuda in the pipe.
So we can see that like hot rodding itself, this whole trend in restoration or replacement body shells-whatever they need to be called-has a bit of an identity problem. It's both new and old, depending how you look at it. Just like hot rodding, this is about taking the best of both the old and the new and creating something unique, something that can be more than the sum of its parts. With a difference: These cars can be built without paying gold-chain prices or searching the nation's junkyards for rusty, overpriced junk to resurrect. Really, we can't say these cars are old or new, so let's just call 'em what they are: hot rods.
Registration
The Goodmark Retro Rides and the EMI '57 Chevy bodies shown in this story use some structures of an original car, so they have a manufacturer-issued vehicle identification number (VIN)-but in the case of Dynacorn's all-new Camaros and Mustang there is no traditional VIN. Each body has a serial number stamped in four places on the body shell and comes with a Manufacturer's Statement of Origin (MSO). According to Jim Barber at Classic Auto Restoration Services (CARS), most states will register the car using the MSO and as a '69 Camaro, '67 Camaro, etc. But there is a bundle of complications in regard to this and differences between states. We're putting together an in-depth story on the subject and will bring it to you soon.

Photo Gallery: All-New Steel Replacement Bodies- Hot Rod Magazine



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[ArcticZ06]

SO I could put a 68 firebird body on my LS1 Frame with the retro kit? That would be bad ass!

[Blitzed]

yeah that would be sweet as hell

[67CamaroRSSS]

I read this thread yesterday. If I didn't already have a 67 Camaro I would've started with one of these bodies.

[third_shift|studios]

why steel body? isn't it heavy as shit?

[cam02ss]

That's so bad ass...So essentially I could order a complete '67 Camaro from them built as wickedly as I wished?

[Black_Z28]

SO I could put a 68 firebird body on my LS1 Frame with the retro kit? That would be bad ass!

Umm, correct me if I'm wrong, but arn't the 4th gens uni-bodies?

[Modulistic]

Umm, correct me if I'm wrong, but arn't the 4th gens uni-bodies?

yes. in fact, I think every f-body ever made was uni-body.

[67CamaroRSSS]

1st and 2nd gens are unit body but have a detachable front sub frame. 3rd and 4th gens are true unit body construction.

[bluefields88]

I heard about these when they first came out. They've done both older Mustang and older Camaro bodies on the newer suspensions. it's awesome. I almost jizz just thinking about it.