Factory Fresh Festiva

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

Why not just buy the manufacturing equipment and offer replacement parts for EVERYTHING except the firewall (which has the VIN number stamped in) and the dataplate on the door frame.

That's exactly what's done in aviation with things like SuperCubs, where you can buy every part you need in the aftermarket, and just move the dataplate from your basketcase over to your "new" airplane. Technically, you've got an "overhauled" (which actually has no legal meaning) airplane, but, practically, it's all new.

Some lawyer on here please tell me why this idea couldn't "fly" for the Festiva.

[Movin]

Most any thing would fly as long as original emission and safety equipment appear intact. We can even use almost any tire and wheel combo we want as long as they both are DOT rated, and laws about fenders and mudflaps are not broken.
Here we can have a "new assembly". I had a 1988 VW beetle assembly, When the car is ready for inspection you tow it in with all your parts receipts and they issue a new title and either the old number or a new one.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

Movin,

Of course, the original-generation Beetle (and other related "Type n"s like the Kombi) are the SuperCubs of the automobile world. People re-build bugs from the data plate up and they're still only subject to the rules in effect in at the time of original manufacture shown on the dataplate (excepting maybe souped-up engines in California).

So if the tooling is available to stamp out Festiva bodies, doors, front fenders, hoods, etc. and somebody has the bucks to buy it and ship it here as "general machinery" or something that wouldn't raise a giant red flag with U.S. Customs, why couldn't those of us with rust problems simple order a new body (without firewall), weld in their original firewall, and build up a "new" Festy from there? Is there any bolt-on part that isn't already available or couldn't readily be made available in sufficient quantity?