in need of some opinions on this van

[Gas On]

There is nothing deceptive in finding an engine in the correct date range for your car. It is impossible to know the engine in your car or any other car is the original engine to that car unless you have the original rego papers or the vehicle identification certificate stapled in the back of the owners guide. Otherwise you are only guessing the engine is original if it is in the correct date range.

An original engine in a car adds no more value to it than a correctly dated engine without documented proof it is the original engine to the car.

If it gets kaido's van on the road I'm all for it!

Deceptive to re-sell any vehicle, claiming it is `original', with a moteur swap. - YES.

[Shadowmax]

Deceptive to re-sell any vehicle, claiming it is `original', with a moteur swap. - YES.

Why not it seems they can still be 'original' after a body swap !!!

[Blocker]

Is the car original if the tyres are changed, oil filter replaced, interior light globe replaced, what about a respray?

At what point do you draw the line of being original or not? Common sense would dictate that 'factory original' means what the car looked like when it was delivered from the factory, not what it would look like now after all these years.

[HZSandman]

Hard to know if any car is original any more.

Motor swap is ok but should be communicated to buyer, otherwise it is dishonest.

Buyer beware.

[Shadowmax]

At what point do you draw the line of being original or not?

Personally, I'd draw that line just before swapping bodies.

But it all only matters because they are now worth something. Personally the most important thing is to enjoy them, and the amount of fun is not affected by whether a car has its original motor, or body or if its matching numbers.

[Gas On]

Why not it seems they can still be 'original' after a body swap !!!

Gday Shadowmax

Haha, yep... theres plenty of `original' ones out there then, if thats the case

I'm going to mould a fibreglass van body for old chassis, just for authenticity!

Cheers

[Blocker]

Gday Shadowmax

Haha, yep... theres plenty of `original' ones out there then, if thats the case

I'm going to mould a fibreglass van body for old chassis, just for authenticity!

Cheers

Hahaha and call it a Corvette.

[Shadowmax]

These old commercials were not meant to still be used 30+ years on, they weren't built fantastic in the first place and few seemed to have ever got near any form of rust proofing, I think we are lucky to have any of them left, so do what you need to do to keep them going, just be honest when it comes time to sell I reckon.

[wbute]

Here is my two cents worth, if you have done body swaps, engine replacement with something close then that is fine as long as it is not hidden from prospective buyers. I have to think that cause my engine is gone and it has no interior so how can it ever be original?
However, I think that the vans/utes that are completely original with the correct body and engine should be valued higher in both monetary and historical value.

[Absinth]

Deceptive to re-sell any vehicle, claiming it is `original', with a moteur swap. - YES.

I didn't say anything about re-selling the car and claiming it has it's original engine.... I said no one would ever know it's not the original engine... IE if you entered your car for judging you wouldn't lose points for a non original engine.


If your chassis originally went down the assembly line an hour earlier or 4 hours later than it did the engine number would be different to the one it did get. Same with the body.

There is not really such a thing as a matching numbers Sandman, the engine number does not match the chassis number or the body number and the body number does not match the chassis nmber. At best you can say your car is all original from factory and matches the numbers on the vehicle identification certificate.

The value of a restored car is in the attention to detail, the closer it is to how it came from the factory the more it is worth. A body swap is neither illegal or immoral as bodies were available direct from GMH as a complete assembly to replace ones that were uneconomical to repair due to extensive damage. It is quite possible that your 1975 HJ Sandman had a tree fall on it in 1976 and the panel shop ordered a new body shell to carry out the repairs...... you'll never know..