"Booger it with a MIG"? Do you not know how to MIG weld? Because if you're "boogering it", you're doing it wrong. All the metal work on that car could be done in 40 hours by a professional. Would it take me longer? Heck yes. Would I have to grind down some of my welds? Yup. Doesn't mean that's the way it should be.
I get it, the car is rough. And yeah, I don't care what the VIN says either, I've got a /6 '74 cloned to a '71 340. I bought my clean, straight, rust free /6 '74 for $2k as a complete car that I almost made the drive home with. And I still think this thing is worth more than mine when I bought it.
You have to know that the car is worth more because of the VIN, because of the hemi orange original color, because of the blackout option, etc. Heck it'll cost less to paint it EV2 than a lot of other colors because it's just a solid color. But it's still worth more to somebody because it's an original EV2 car. Those are just the facts. The biggest thing hurting this car isn't the metal work, it's the missing drivetrain. If it had the numbers matching drivetrain someone would have already bought it.