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Old 07-03-2004, 06:12 PM
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gtoric gtoric is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Great Lakes State
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Absolutely correct and original examples will always be at the top of anyone's value list. The more original the better. Super-low-mileage original examples, "survivors" if you will, are the most respected and, IMO the most valuable cars in existance. A car can only be original once. You can restore a car many times.

As far as your putting a GTO hood on a Le Mans Sport is concerned...did you also install the GTO front clip assembly? Did you save the original parts? Are you going to keep this car for a while, or are you reselling it?

If you are going to keep it, build it like you want to build it. If you want a GTO clone, make it a GTO clone. The problem with cloneing manifests when it comes time to sell. The original builder can give full disclosure to the new owner, but will that person also tell the next buyer that this is a clone? Somewhere down the line, someone buys a car that he or she thinks is a genuine GTO when it is not. Of course, if the original VIN tag is still with the car, that should make the pedigree clear. Tampering with VIN and Fisher Body tags enters the realm of fraud and deception.

I don't know your situation with this particular car, but in any event you should build it to suit yourself. I am currently restoring a '74 Ventura. I am adding all of the GTO-specific items to the car except the GTO identification badging. I want it to look like a GTO, but I don't want to pass it off as a GTO. It will be worth more than a stock Ventura, but that is only because the GTO parts are worth more. In your case the GTO front clip or just the GTO hood is worth more than the Le Mans parts that they replace. This makes the car more valuable than it would be stock, but just by the added value of the GTO parts.

Your GTO clone will be worth the value of a restored Le Mans Sport plus the value of the GTO parts on the car. It will not be worth the value of a restored GTO.