[Bill Ringer]

I have had two of what I think you are talking about. The first was a genuine factory '63 Savoy aluminum nose car which was built into a SS/DA car in the mid-seventies- 2X3 frame, wheel tubs and roll bar later getting a full cage. I sold that car for the one I have had for the last 31 years- a factory V-code 440+6 'Cuda for SS/FA and that one I still own- untouched since it's last race. It and I retired from SS competition in 2010. The 'Cuda like the Savoy was built in the 70's (1978) and in those days 99% of the racers didn't think twice about building these cars. So when you say "gulp!" about these cars, please, get over it. That is total hindsight- the cars were produced for racing- these were the days of 'win on Sunday and sell on Monday' for NHRA and NASCAR. Maybe the historians can tell us if the stories I have heard about NHRA verifying VIN's to assure the car was correct before they would allow it to compete are accurate (I think it is but that pre-dates my serious interest in SS which started in the late-70's). According to the folks who were competing then this was a time that if you wanted to race what is now a rare car it had to be verifiably correct for the class. Many of these are still around- not far from me here is Colorado I know of my old '63 still intact with cage- tubs & all plus a beauty of a 69 COPO also with full frame, cage and wheel tubs- it too was built before most folks knew these would be valuable someday if original and intact.
The Super Stock magazine project car "Project Six-Pack" 69 1/2 Roadrunner is currently in Wyoming - you may have seen it on Barrett-Jackson a few times. This was another original, an A-12 car which had a cage, frame connectors and wheel tubs added after it's Stock Eliminator days. Since it had a big following with Super Stock magazine it was put back into the original condition when it was in it's heyday of Stock Eliminator racing in the 70's. That much work only pays off when the car has the value to offset the cost of un-doing the frame, cage and sheet metal work- then there is the paint...$$$. At one of the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auctions it brought six figures- pretty good for a 70's era Six-Pack car in Stock Eliminator race car trim. I don't think the current owner had to give that much. I don't follow that stuff close enough to know exact $ numbers. Just Google "Project Six-Pack" to see more about that one.
Just a bit off-topic, is one of the 11 or so '71 Hemi-Cuda convertibles was in my hometown of Boulder Colorado in the mid-70's and at that time it went from one used car lot to another. The muscle car guys back then quickly labeled it as a lemon with electrical and fuel system gremlins. It was bought for 4 or 5 grand in about 1975 by a savvy guy who straightened out all of the problems it had. He cleaned it up nicely and we all were in awe when he sold it for $11,500 a few years later. And those are the ones now bringing millions. A friend told me he saw this one at one of the show gatherings where they had something like 6-8 of those 11 all together. This one was the "Butternut"(?) color & auto trans and we just called it "baby s**t yellow".
My only message here is that the rare ones which were "cut-up" for racing are as much a part of the history of these cars as the pristine restorations everyone admire so much. Keep that in mind before you gasp & roll your eyes over an "original" car which has been made into the race cars that they still may be today.