Though these were mass-produced vehicles, through time and attrition, they are no longer easily found. Just like endangered animals, the pool of availability is ever shrinking. My personal pet peeve is when Chip Foose or someone else starts with a pristine vintage car and then proceeds to tear it down and customize it. Like they say, "It's only original once." I always hope to see the original unrestored cars cared for so our grandchildren can see them. There are many projects that need a little work in junkyards all over the country that could be used instead. Just my opinion.
Beautiful work! You've inspired me. My dad started on a similar project about 15 years ago, using a 1/32 scale semi-truck chassis and one of these cutdown LRW bodies. He was building it to tow a big camper trailer. I'm going to have to dig it out and see if I can finish it for him.