Anyone about to shell out loads of hard earned cash on any car should take a lesson from my mate dave,

Dave bought a nice clean 85 Z28 at a local car show about 5 years ago. The car had been in the UK since about 87 making it only 2 yeas old when it came in.

all was well and the car passed through several owners in the UK and passed about 6 more MOT (annual road safety) tests

One day he decided to respray the car, this is where it all started to go horribly wrong. (this was about two years ago)

when he got to the interior, he had a leather interior to install, so he removed the seats, and then the carpet.

This is where he found out something horrible about his car. There was a nast weld running across the whole width of the car, his nice clean Z28 was in fact two Z's welded together!

We should all know this, but apperances can be deceptive! if your looking at a nice clean car take a screwdriver along, remove the sill plate, lift the carpet, and check your only looking at one car.

(I checked my Sport Coupe as soon as i got home - all ok thank goodness) Daves car is being broken for spares and the shell will be crushed :nono:

 

That doesn't sound too good.......

That must of been one strong weld to hold two cars together........

 

Why are they crushing it? As long as it was done right-there shouldn't be a problem. Although I did see a special about this practice a few years ago--was in England no less! From what they said it's very dangerous(if not done right!).

 

musta been one hell of a job getting the doors and everything to line up and fit perfectly.


But hey, at least he can say he owned to Z's at the same time

 

Yes you are correct Tonyrodz, I remember seeing that special on TV too. It was one of those late night shows on Discovery I think. Apparently the UK has a pretty bad problem with crooked dealers putting salvaged vehicles back together for sale. Several people have died in accidents involving these rehashed cars because the body shells were extremely weak. Government would much rather just make cars like that illegal than go through the trouble of establishing standards for what is a safe weld and what isn't. But done right, there should be no problems. Look at all the custom stretch limos running around the country. They weren't made like that - they were cut and stretched at a fabrication shop.

 

Phil,

That is bad.

 

Yes, it is more of a problem in the UK than it is in the states, however, we believe the car was "cut and shut" in the US

the reason the car will be dangerous is that unless the weld is 100 % perfect ( 99.9% chance it's not) the metal isn't as strong, also you are only joining the exterior surfaces inner sills etc do not get welded (the scum doing this dont care how safe the car is - they just want a quick buck)

daves car was pepperd in holes and the weld was visualy very poor - it was just coverd with bondo (a ford escort was profesionaly cut and shut in the UK and then crash tested - it simply folded at the weld when it hit the wall)

Thank *** it wasn't my car.

 

Its easy to drive two Z's at the same time... driving them both at once can be difficult though

I saw a show on this before, I forgot where. Places were taking cars that should be totalled and fixing them to look normal, sometimes welding two cars together. It's illegal to do in the US, I don't know what the laws on it in England are though.

 

We call it a CUT & SHUNT
IF & only if its done properly its OK

 

I assume that's rhyming [sic?] slang for the people who perform this type of work!

 

welding two cars together to make one is more common than you think, is nothing illegal about it either.

 

Too weak of a weld is bad, but too strong of a weld can have an equally bad effect if the vehicle is ever involved in another collsion.

In the US, each state makes it's own laws and regulations for deciding which vehicles are damaged badly enough that they should never be allowed back on the road and which ones will be allowed back on the road after they are "repaired".