Is it such a big deal?

I used to work for a well known hack rebuilder in the area years ago. You would not BELIEVE some of the CRAP that he MADE us do that went outta his shop......BUT none of it was below board. It was all legal and inspected by the GBI before it went back into service......and that INCLUDED some rebodies. You CAN do it under certain situations and be legal. I've seen it ALOT with insurance wrecks for example. That's what we did. He bought totals from insurance companies and we repaired them. It CAN be done in that instance. I don't know how it would be handled in the case of a classic car, or even if it can be done, but I know we DID rebody cars.....several times and it was all perfectly legal.