That presumes driving on US streets, doing so in a state which doesn't have
special arrangements for collectors / historic / street rod cars.
Ironically New Jersey would let me strip bumpers, chop down the windshield
to a 3" height, weld the doors shut & smoothed, remove sidelights, and
basically do a "melt" of the car, then title it as a street rod and drive
it on the highway up to 3,000 miles a year. I have no such intentions, but
compared to all the other realms in which NJ is really restrictive on daily
life, the customized car sector is really broadminded. It is amazing to see
what people build here as their automotive escapes from reality.
If I'd found a pre-74 free of rust for anywhere near the price, I would
certainly have purchased it. I climbed around a fair few to find this car
with a solid structure I can count on for the next 25 years. Had my heart
set on a '62 build '63 title. Bought it without personal inspection based
on dozens of photos and seller's assurances of unphotographed portions. Got
under the passenger side and looked like it had been dropped from a 3-4
foot height onto a stack of cinderblocks halfway between the wheels, with a
stop sign post bolted on as a replacement frame and baling wire lacing the
bottom edge of a fake sill to the signpost. Heartbreaking.
This car I can trust structurally to spend more money on it. Evidence found
(receipts, event memorabilia, repaint touchup cannister) indicate that it
spent most of its 26 years in Arizona, a visit at least to San Francisco,
and the last 6 months in the north east. Maybe it did more, but the
condition doesn't indicate it.
If I could now find a dirt dirt dirt cheap chrome bumper 5 main car needing
a body tub swap and maybe my drivetrain, and a new interior, I could
undertake that effort... But then the easier method would be moving the VIN
plates, and that's not legal now is it. How often do people go that route?
Mark
Tab Julius
<tab@penworks. To: Mark D
Melvin/JPMCHASE@JPMCHASE
com> cc: mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: New list member / B
owner with special part sourcing question
10/28/2003
05:23 PM
Purity aside, as this is your car and you can do what you want to it, I
would question whether it would be street legal after changing the
bumpers. The bumpers changed midway through '74 in order to meet the 1976
vehicle safety standards. It's entirely possible after making this
conversion that you will render your '77 illegal to drive.
Why not just buy a pre-74 chrome bumper to start with?
At 03:52 PM 10/28/03, mark.d.melvin@jpmchase.com wrote:
>a) To convert to chrome bumpers, aside form the labor, and ride height and
>etc. etc. etc. at a vary practical level I need new bracket mounts and
>humps to fill the flats under the taillights. I have found places in the
UK
>selling kits with these conversion bits, but no US suppliers. Are there
>any? I'd rather weld the new brackets before repainting rather than
>repainting that area later.
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