Enjoy this nonsense and side talk on a Superbird. I guess a rebody is not really a rebody and full body replacements are ok. Lol
https://youtu.be/Vc7GAPJi250

Methinks Steve should stick to checking out junkyards and building model cars.

I saw that, I was a little disappointed in his response. I feel being that close to his employer may have affected his answer.........

Always thought the rosette rivets were black? Learn something new everyday. The rivets look natural and not black on the low mile Superbird is that something unique to the SB's? Also IMO Lynch Road fender tags were not bent and both screws not painted but that's another

Yep. I flipped through his supposed "fact" book at the Barnes & Noble, and it took me less than a minute to find a couple mistakes in the Mopar section...

I respect Steve M. but he does tend to be more of a generalist on muscle car knowledge. Zero talk of the core support stamping. If both the rear and front stamps are gone, in my mind, that is a rebody. Especially considering that the VIN may be real but it's riveted to a bolt on dash frame and every ounce of the Hemi Super Bird parts could have been borrowed from a totaled car. I've seen this guy's other videos. He knows zero about wing cars. "But it's got a steel nose..." another bolt on part, and there have been steel workers who have reproduced those too. There are entire Superbirds out there built from a road runner and spare parts (ex. the Rainbow Superbird). The documentation of that orange car's rebuild is conveniently non-existent. I don't trust the story, don't trust the reproduced fender tag, Hemi and VIN or not, that car has an asterisk next to its name. Unless true photo documentation, core support stampings, and a broadcast sheet can be produced, It's always going to have that asterisk.

In concept I agree with what you say.

In the neighborhood of 1/3 of the original Superbirds do not have a radiator core stamping. That is the way they came from the factory. So I'd say that makes you more of a generalist about Superbirds than a go to guy.

And how and why is that?

I saw on the registry the vehicle was rebodied using a 1969 GTX.

Is that even possible?

It probably had to do with the installation of the latch tray bracket which was spot welded on to the radiator support. If that was put on before the serial # was stamped. The jig may not have been able to fit over the modified parts. No one knows for sure, it is just the way it is.

Using a 69 GTX to Rebody a super bird seems to be taking the long way to down town.

then it should be crushed

There seems to be a pretty simple way to prove what he has once and for all... if it was hit hard on the side and that portion of the car was replaced pull the interior and look. There has to be some sort of sign that it was done. Welds on one side that aren't identical to the other etc. From underside when they had it on a hoist they said it was clean and you couldn't tell yet it was also heavily under coated.

With todays crazy market he probably did OK for what he paid for it even if it is a rebody. When he goes to sell if the interested buyers do any googling on it the questions about it come up pretty quick and they'll know what they're getting into. If someone with money doesn't care and buys it without looking into it's background that's their problem.
Hoovie seems to be pretty honest when he sells stuff and doesn't seem to pass off his clunkers as good cars so when he does sell it he'll probably mention the controversy behind it or why he thinks it's the real deal if they ask and let the other person decide.

Sarcasm noted. Thank you for acknowledging that you agree in principle. You read a bit into my text. I never said that all Superbirds had a core support stampings. I simply said that without EITHER, it's only as good as a rebody. Your jab about me not being a go-to guy was kinda funny. Although I have been in the MOPAR hobby a very long time, if you want to know about Superbirds from an expert, I'm not your guy, and Steve is DEFINITELY not your guy, yet he's the one on TV reassuring this guy that his car is legit simply because the VIN tag has an R in the fifth digit, so hey.

Regarding your suggestion about why 1/3 of them didn't get the core stamping due to the hood latch tray being welded in place blocking the stamping machine is an interesting notion. I was aware that some weren't stamped but never heard this theory. As I understand, that tray was installed in the Lynch Road metal shop with all other welded-on parts to the main body structure that would later receive body color. The bodies were stamped front and rear at this time. With Superbirds all being special order cars with the bodies welded in batches but each ending up in arbitrary position on the assembly line, one wonders if one or both shifts mucked up the steel work assembly sequence on the first few batches and it didn't get discovered until the first few Superbirds hit QC at the end of the line and were missing the stamp. By the time they realized what was happening, several batches might could have been completed. Maybe by the time they issued a change order and had the assembly sequence adjusted, a third of the cars were in or on their way to paint, AKA, the point of no return. Your thoughts?

It seems like the guy is trying to justify his rebuilt wreck he bought as being acceptable as a survivor car.

I get tired of these rebody/fake discussions that seem to surface on a periodic basis. Everyone has their opinion on the topic and no one else is going to change it. All it does is provide a source of conflict. I think efforts to discuss how to verify a legitimate car are valuable. But past that......

Here is what an original Latch tray bracket looks like. It is spot welded on to the Radiator frame.

The late David Patik wrote a definitive paper on how Superbirds were built. He describes how for a number of the special pieces, cars were taken off the line into "repair holes" in the Metal Shop. He also describes how in the Metal Shop air or hydraulic embossing tools were manually located and operated to add the serial #'s.

I don't know how many "repair holes" there were or how often they were spaced along the assembly line. Given all the hand work being done to fit the special parts, there were likely several "repair" holes". Some could have been before the embossing operation and some could have been after. I was not there. Remember also that regular cars were going down the line too, and some of them likely needed repair work too.

If someone was hand moving a embossing tool, which might have been hung from above, the extra bracket could have been in the way depending on when the bracket was put on. It seems like there are a disproportionate # of Suberbirds missing the radiator core stamping. Maybe during the month that Superbirds went down the line someone was just lazy. Another explanation is that somehow in the special modification sequence the normal sequence of assembly was interrupted.

I have 46 years of continuously owning Superbirds and I still have lots to learn.