A friend of mine has an old car. Think something the size of a Briggs bodied LD10. The aluminium body shell is beyond economic repair because of the rot in the ash frame and that was the comment from a marque specialist.
The second line of thought was to re-body the chassis with a four door tourer. The type that has a hood but without wind up windows, just side screens. He has found a chassis with a new ash frame that meets his choice of body. The chap selling it, the marque specialist, has suggested he buy the chassis and body frame, use his engine and running gear and just transfer the chassis number from the old chassis to the new. Thus he would be able to use his existing registration number and V5. I should add that the chassis (bare) and shell are from a car that is 6 years older
That latter comment didn't seem quite legal to me and I wonder if anyone has any advice.
Thinking that he might use his chassis and all the components and thus be legal he enquired about the production of a four door tourer frame and has had one quote of £7-8,000. Now the marque specialist selling the chassis and frame has suggested a guide price of about £7,000 for the aluminium body skin on whichever chassis is used which is beginning to make the whole project rather expensive.
The marque specialist has added the comment that a four door tourer would have a value of about £24,000 but if he went down the route of having a boat tail body then it would be in the region of £40,000
Does anyone have a company that they would/could recommend to produce a frame and another to clad the frame in aluminium? Even a fabric body would be expensive, about the same as an aluminium skin.

I think that the chassis number IS the car , if you see my meaning - it is the "essence" of the car. If you have a different number it is a different car. You can change the engine and the body but NOT the chassis number. I saw a Jaguar Mk2 this weekend and it had the original reg, chassis number, and tax exemption but had a 4 litre V8. Check with the DVLA as well. but I think you must retain the chassis number . I had a motorbike , and I had to use another frame - that made it a different bike and I got given a Q plate.

I agree with Keith, it's not exactly legal and unless you have the original registration you'd end up with a Q plate which can never be changed.
However, new bodies can be built with superb results as evidenced by Alan Toomer's DE 36 Special at the DLOC International this year.

I was fascinated by the DE36 special.
It should give the Mk VI Bentleys a run for their money!
Does anyone have any any more information on it?

Perhaps we can ask the owner to do a piece for the Driving Member?

a few more photos

Can anyone tell me if the Toomer Special is on a DE36 chassis or a cut down version?

The answer is in the current magazine, and is yes, Alan shortened the chassis by 26" moved the engine back 81/2 and lowered it 41/2 inches.

Great article and it justifies the use of a getting rare DE36 chassis and running gear.

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In relation to the original query about ash framing, Hutson's of Bradford have an amazing wood shop and can produce frames to order - the staple diet for the wood shop is MG T series but they can turn their hands to most things - recently they did an SS90 - 01274 669052 - Andy Rayner is the man to speak to