I have seen a bunch of tube frame modified chassis being sold for cheap. How hard would it be to put a vintage body on one and make it street legal?
I have seen a bunch of tube frame modified chassis being sold for cheap. How hard would it be to put a vintage body on one and make it street legal?
93EXCivic wrote: I have seen a bunch of tube frame modified chassis being sold for cheap. How hard would it be to put a vintage body on one and make it street legal?
Hard. Really hard, I bet.
I have seen one at car shows that's registered here in Connecticut. It's interesting, but it doesn't look like something I'd want to live with.
When I said vintage body, I mean a vintage street car body (like a Bel Air or something) and not a vintage modified body. Wouldn't it be like building a Locost?
about as difficult as getting a kit car licensed for the street I think, but if I had an old dirt modified I would be tempted to keep it as a dirt mod and run caterham-style fenders up front and then find some way to enclose the rear wheels to satisfy the law, just to be different. if you want to put a closed-fender body on it, I would probably try and find a dirt late model, square it up, drop in a LSx and a 4 speed, and find a drag race or some sort of a pavement late model body and stick that on it, put some good all-seasons or even rally tires on it and go to town. imagine an early Corvette roadster or a '41 Willys pitched sideways on a dirt road, or an early Mustang with the inside front tire a foot off the ground from the apex to corner exit
There was an old monster garage show they skinned a stock car chassis with a 64 lincoln to run as a silverstate/big bend open road car. I guess if you had a titled old car. Might depend on your state as far as requirements to be legal and inspections and such, but not a huge step beyond some major motor swaps or chassis mods I've seen.
What are the odds OP will ever start ANY project?
z31maniac wrote: What are the odds OP will ever start ANY project?
Well I have the Yamaha dirt bike going but I swear once I get a job I am going car project shopping. 
I started one my cousin was to finish but it still hangs--1997 silverado that rolled enroute to vegas under his 58 chev pickup cab and bed. I did a swasticka cut in the frame [down, across and down again] and shortened the frame 27" due to the extra cab scenario. his main ainerface problem will be the firewall. steering, ac, heater, cruise control, etc. it cost him 4k to buy the salvage--LT1 ran like a top. fenders lined up great. I gave it back to him in pieces after the shortening. it will be a cool ride.
In California, pre-75 no inspection, just pay your dues. That said, what are your plans for a floor? The main problem will be riding around in a car with a full cage, good idea to wear a helmet. Who knows how good the suspension design really is on your newly purchased one-off car?
Definitely a cool race car project. What are your goals?
It was just an idea. I don't know if I would ever do it. They full cage thing did occur to me. As far as suspension, I was thinking on modifying the geometry to suit me.
most of those cars are built with everything offset to the left side to maximize weight on the left side of the car or to get the weight to shift to that side of the car as the suspension moves- you'd have to essentially rebuild the whole chassis to make it want to do anything besides turn left. in the end, you'd wind up rebuilding everything but some parts of the roll cage.
In reply to thummmper:
What's an ainerface?
ShadowSix wrote: In reply to thummmper: What's an ainerface?
I believe it's some sort of playground insult
i bought a $500 camaro stock car from behind a barn, scrapped the crappy body, made a few changes, and came up with/am still working on it
I want a street car like this. I have seen it in person, and it is scary cool!
I would imagine that as long as you start with something with a VIN, you could drop it on a tube frame and nobody in the govt. would ever be the wiser.
the owner of TPI Specialties (a Corvette/Camaro tuner) in Minneapolis has an old ASA Monte Carlo stock car that is powered by an LS2 and registered as a Chevy Monza, somehow..
novaderrik wrote: the owner of TPI Specialties (a Corvette/Camaro tuner) in Minneapolis has an old ASA Monte Carlo stock car that is powered by an LS2 and registered as a Chevy Monza, somehow..
very illegally, of course
there was a local show a few years back where a real #88 ups dale jarrett taurus showed up, driven in, with license plates. i'd assume he bought a $500 taurus and "built from there". it had little hid's and little led taillights creatively hidden in the stickers of lights
patgizz wrote:novaderrik wrote: the owner of TPI Specialties (a Corvette/Camaro tuner) in Minneapolis has an old ASA Monte Carlo stock car that is powered by an LS2 and registered as a Chevy Monza, somehow..very illegally, of course there was a local show a few years back where a real #88 ups dale jarrett taurus showed up, driven in, with license plates. i'd assume he bought a $500 taurus and "built from there". it had little hid's and little led taillights creatively hidden in the stickers of lights
ok.. i was wrong.. it's his brother that has the car, and it's a 1999 NASCAR Busch series car powered by an LS6. i must have spent 1/2 hour just staring at it when it was at the TPIS display at the Car Craft show a few years ago... http://www.tpis.com/pages/8_24_06
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