I talked to my friend with the 55 chevy and the insurance and him settled. He will come away with thousands, and he gets to keep the 55 with out a salvage title. He is going to fix it using a new C5 corvette style chassis, huge brakes and a 6 speed this time.
There will be a lot of nice premium parts for sale for tri five chevies. The old frame can be straightened and with all the big wilwood braking he had on it along with a 355 posi, muncie m21, fenderwell headers, and more I am sure.