Cool yes, but seems like madness to me. What if you don't have an old car? How do you vin it? How do you stop the unscroupulous from pulling fast ones? If you do have to register as new then I assume that you must abide by all current car standards? The whole reason Carroll is using original cars for his Elensteins to begin with?
For 12K + you can usually still find a decent and solid original car, I have to believe that the cost to finish this new body would easily cover the cost of refreshing an original in the same price point, so I don't see the purpose this serves quite yet. The reason it worked in the Hot Rod community is because all the old cars from 30's were being modded up and the plea to keep some history in tact was heard. Although, I just read in the new MM that the Hot Rod community has their sights now set on our beloved cars form the 60's and 70's since they feel they have been there and done that to death on the generation cars they usually mod, so maybe this is the first indication that those biys are here to stay and play in our backyard now? I mean, they usually do not care at all about exceeding the cars value when creating it, they just want it clean and fast.