Graveyard Carz Getting Into The Clone Business

[Bruzilla]

From GYC's Facebook page: "Recently I had a fan call me and inquire about having a Superbird tribute car built. His ultimate dream car was a 440 Six Barrel, 4 Speed, 3.54 Dana in Top Banana Yellow. With real Superbirds selling for 200k+, a tribute was the right answer. We are excited to help make Rob's dream come true. The donor car is a real road runner compliments of Tony's Parts. Stay tuned for the very special restoration tribute Superbird."

Okay... nothing against clones, but here is the car they posted they were going to use as a base for this project:

Why would you start this project with a ragged out rusty POS that's going to need most everything replaced/restored instead of starting with a nice driver?

 

[WP29440SE]

especially when a great clean 70 satellite would be a prime start . im sure its all about the money, why start clean when you can charge someone to basically replace the whole car.

 

[Budnicks]

not really sure there's an ulterior motive

it's Graveyard Carz,
emphasis on "allegedly" bringing them back from the dead/Graveyard...

IIRC that's Mark's mantra...

I personally don't have an issue with the clones "at all" either,
maybe that way, hopefully it'll be probably driven that way at-least...

Could be a good & possibly informative/interesting build/project...
I've considered doing one myself, or a Daytona preferably even better...

I always thought Mark's deal was bringing them back to factory specs always,
{only a handful of people in the world, can do this...LOL}
but have seen a few cars now, that he's taken some liberties with,
along with some variances that are at the customers requests too

 

[Bruzilla]

especially when a great clean 70 satellite would be a prime start . im sure its all about the money, why start clean when you can charge someone to basically replace the whole car.

That's a good point! Why start with a Roadrunner when you can get a Satellite for a lot less and since it's a clone it doesn't matter which you start with anyway.

- - - Updated - - -

I always thought Marks deal was bringing them back to factory specs always,
{only a handful of people in the world, can do this...LOL} but have seen a few cars now that he's taken liberties with along with, some are at the customers requests too

I have no problem with clones either, but if I were the customer I would have a LOT of concerns about why you're starting the project with a near basketcase instead of a car that doesn't need as much work to complete.

 

[WileE]

Why is he calling it "Top Banana" ? What Superbird is going upwards of 200 k these days ? Seriously, methinks it's cheaper to buy one than build up that scrapheap.

 

[Budnicks]

maybe it's all to show off his shop skill or bragging rights,
I really don't know why they would start with a basket case,
unless to help promote Tony's Parts & the shops abilities or other venders possibly...

I know I would always try to start with as much of a rust free car, as possible,
especially living here on the west coast, where we do have quite a few still...

 

[Mr Gorsky]

I think it's great that they're going to rescue that old girl, most would consider the patient too far gone.

Not so happy they're going to do so much cosmetic surgery though. The Plymouth Superbird is the Road Runner's ugly little sister.

I know they're rare and valuable and they have race history....but the same three things could be said about Donald Sterling :icon_wink:.

 

[Budnicks]

I have no problem with clones either, but if I were the customer I would have a LOT of concerns about why you're starting the project with a near basketcase instead of a car that doesn't need as much work to complete.

yep, I think IMHFO it's probably more about, it {that specific car} is also coming from Tony's Parts &
being all about Tony's Parts {Venders for GYC's keeps in stock now} & the availability maybe,
marketing stuff, constant or multiple mentions & shameless plugs, would be my best guess...

 

[Car Nut]

I think you nailed it Budnicks, to promote Tony's Parts.

 

[eldubb440]

how many rust free bodies are actually out there to be had? i mean even a pretty solid car has rust festering in all the usual places.........

 

[patrick66]

Nothing wrong with promoting either GYC or Tony's Parts. A guy has to advertise to stay in business, right? I, too, would pick a cleaner donor car, but when you are building a clone (I despise the "tribute" term!), you use what you can. Like building a hot rod. A buddy has a 1930 Buick Six that is basically a body shell and a radiator shell, with a handful of other bits. He's putting that '30 Buford on the road...certainly not in its' original form, but then neither will this yellow Plymouth be, either!

 

[Bruzilla]

There are lots of nice drivers out there. I've also seen quite a few nice fallen projects with great bodies. I think the guys who said this is a quid pro quo deal with Tony's are probably right. I know if I were the customer I would be saying he best be getting that donor car for free.

 

[idrivemopar]

More than likely to promote Tony's Parts. I must say however, Tony is a real nice guy, talked to him several times on the phone when I was doing my restoration. I bought some stuff from him and a thermoquad carb, but it was a total pile when I got it, and not salvageable, so I called him and told him the issue and he sent me another one that was workable for no charge. I did give him some feedback on the show, the one he was actually on a while back.

I agree on this one, they should start with something better to build a clone. And after the prices this past week at BJ for some of those clone cars I'm not surprised that they are building a clone.

 

[Hemi Rebel]

Why build that car? Because he can. Maybe he wants the challenge. And why is he in the clone business all of a sudden? He is in the car restoration business. Same as he has always been. He restores way more legit cars and now wants to help make someones dream come true and is being labeled a clone builder. As if he is doing something shady or nefarious. Shame on him for giving the customer what he wants

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Jus Todd? That you?

 

[1971 plymouth roadrunner]

I guess when you are planning on replacing everything with AMD does it really matter if the car is covered in rust

 

[dieseldazzle]

Agree with Mark or not guys he is helping to keep our Mopar dream alive and putting it in the spot light will only benefit us all in the end.

- - - Updated - - -

On another note why was TONY out there helping MARK organize his yard when, if that is TONYS yard in the pics, it looks like TONY needs help organizing????

 

[Hemirunner]

I hope they use some good steel repop bird parts and make a nice clone!!

 

[Finallygotmine]

I think the key word here is "compliments" of Tony's Parts....as in FREE
Why start out with a rusty car? So we all can see the truckload of FREE metal from AMD.

 

[patrick66]

This is a RoadRunner VIN'd car. THAT is probably why it's getting the SuperBird treatment over a Satellite.