This was a race car totally smashed but has since been rebuilt.
I was wondering if , in replacing alloy panels, it makes sense that the wrinkled panels were flattened out and recurved. My inclination would be to make new panels or is this done often in rebuilding smashed race cars, trying to work with the original metal?

 

This car was rebuilt using as much of the original metal as possible due to the owners wanting to keep the unique car as original as possible. Also it would be used as an advert for the remarkable skills of the company doing the work. Car and company being owned by the same.
Normally you wouldn't go to such lengths due to the time and expense involved (5000 hours on bodywork, I believe). It would have been way more expedient to build a new alloy bodied car from the ground up.