Rorin67

What makes our classic cars desirable (and valuable) is not the engine, it's the body. The 67 is my daily driver, and I get more looks, compliments, etc. with it as opposed to the other guy driving the 911 turbo. At this point in their approx 40 years of age, it's the body that counts. Nobody I know ever got super-excited about a 289 or a 351 (well, let me qualify that remark...). But a 289 or 351 in a classic body - now that's something!

I am happy to have scored both, though I am more happy to have a solid and rust-free body to serve as the foundation of the rest of the car that, undoubtedly, will see many engines in its day...

Colorado_Mustang

You don't know the women I do. Most of 'em just like the rumbley exhaust...and really don't care about too much else. A nice body definitely helps, but you're talking about the total package. If you drive a classic that's decently clean but has the 'sound,' you'll get all the attention you could hope for.

Shifty101Easy

id be inclined to take a good body car without even a friggin engine period....a straight, rust free body seriously changes everything about the project....if i had more patience id prob have moved onto a diff car that was straighter with less rust but i was about to have a brain hemmorage or something aweful and couldnt resist the rebuilt 302, new flowmasters, clean interior, and front SSBC disc brakes......

bgs45504

I would say this depends on the project... If i was restoring a car to original, i would want the best package i could find. If the engine is gone, and you want to restore a numbers matching car, good luck. If the engine and drivetrain are there and car is a wreck, you can always remedy the body situation...

If you were building a quick weekend driver, sure i would rather have the good body and the bad engine. But if i were building a street rod, who cares... The engine is gone anyways and the body is going to be hacked up as well... So the worse off the car the better for something like that.

When we bought our car it was a rusty, but complete car. It has been in storage for the last 25 years and those years were not kind to her. Also, the factory 289 is knocking and needs a complete rebuild... So i have neither, but i have a completely original car. The plan is a restomod, but keeping all of the original body and drivetrain possible. Obviously we will be putting a newer transmission in place, but the floors are rusty, so those pans had to be replaced anyways... and therefore i dont feel as bad modifying a part from Year One or NPD as I would cutting up an original floor pan.

I know this is not a one or the other answer, but it really depends on the application....

MustangPammie

I overpaid for my Mustang by at least 35% (bad advice) because it was totally rust-free and when I went for my 2nd classic, I wanted totally rust-free.

Now if I could find a truck from the 1950's that was totally rust-free, I'd be a happy little camper

THUMPIN455

Pretty much describes every V8 I own, well except for the 98. But the LS1 is the slowest V8 car I have right now, so it makes sense its the purdiest..

Lookin like a complete pile is one way to have a sleeper. Nothing organized or neat looking, but everything has to work correctly and be in good shape mecahnically or you will have problems with it running right. It sure dont have to look good to run hard. Does this look like a 10 second ride or a 13-15 second ride?

[IMG]local://upfiles/14646/1048148979A8444D9FE402A187948AC1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/14646/67A256D84E104572824348F79F526D0C.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/14646/9E1E7A3FA08E411BADC8DD1C7C964D25.jpg[/IMG]

THUMPIN455

That thing won plenty of street races before I wised up.

Bulldog66

I'm in the <Perfect Motor / Rusty Car > catagory. If I had it all to do again, I'd go w/ the opposite. To me, spending time on the drive train is far more rewarding and fun than doing body / paint work.

However, Money is only fun tickets, right? [X(]

EmperorOfChicken

Thumpin looks like a 18 second ride to me My next car (no not selling the same I want ANOTHER! gotta start young i say) will probably be in decent shape body with a monstor motor so i can pwn all teh private school kids fancy new mercedes and mustangs with a POS

72rustang

The fact that you have (relatively) skinny tires up front, and large tires in back, would make me think that this guy has some other stuff set up for straightline speed. Best not to find out the hard way. And the fact that you have what appear to be more or less stock-size tires up front and not total bicycle tires, means the thing may well corner pretty well to boot. But we don't have the luxury of checking all of that out at a stoplight, now do we?