Paul Nelson writes:
"A few years back, there was a company in Raleigh or Durham that was doing
this with new bodyshells and 1800 engines for around $10K. I saw an ad in
some magazine or other at the time, as I remember."
A few years ago I learned about a company off (I think) I-40 in that area of
NC that was selling totally restored B's for around $10M. I stopped by on
one of my business trips to the area & saw the work they did. Pretty good
actually. But, they didn't use a new shell, they used a decent bodied car.
Lots of patches welded in. But, a pretty good looking final product.
Don't know if they are still around, but when I return home next week, I'll
look in my files & post the name & #.
Around the same time I had correspondence with a guy in Phoenix, AZ who was
doing total B rebuilds for from $6500 to $12M. Sounded pretty interesting.
Made a visit to him as well. They were located in a number of open-air
garages. Had one B shell upside down on a rotisserie after a heavy paint
job on specific areas so that the paint would run into hard-to-reach areas.
(Interesting attention to detail) Came close enough to going with his deal
until I thought about the difference in commitment to capital investment by
each of these two businesses. The AZ guy could have picked up stakes in
about one hour & disappeared with my sizable deposit. Just made me too
nervous.
Ended up going with a good used RBB from nearby in CT.
Often think about these two outfits as I look at the $$ I now have in my '66
B. Wonder if I couldn't have done better with one of them.
Norm Sippel
'66 B daily driver/occasional racer
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