The 1970 426 Hemi was unique as well because that engine utilized hydraulic lifters, so doing valve lash adjustments every other day are a thing of the past. The engines are very maintanance intensive, as Roswell Grey's buddies attested to back in '70.
there were people paying thousands of dollars for old mopars that were completely destroyed, but they had the vin tag and block, both of which showed proof of a factory hemi car...
Rebodying is a lot more common than you can think. This topic causes lots of debate. Homeboy takes an abused rusted-out hulk, cuts what he can off of the cowl, core support and floorpans. His slant six deputy roller gets the cowl patched in, and whatever he can use off of the 1970 Rustoleum. Now, while the roller gets all the remaining salvageable big block parts. Is it a big block car, or a slant six clone?
Did anybody see the flattened AAR cuda on ebay a few months ago? I think the starting bid was 5K! The cowl was kind of straight, and one of the doors had a fairly salvageable corner. The description presented the car as "salvageable"!