I'm not against cutting, using, changing, etc. But it needs to be an open and legit process. To be honest, I would have moved the later VIN tag onto the earlier dash to keep it a later car. Tony's preface about going to the DMV to get a VIN is fine. That's the legit way to do a car like that. It has no real pedigree so who would care if the VIN was not a factory VIN?
The seller knows everything about it. NO doubt in my mind. Condition and how it got to it is in question, and no doubt the seller either had it done or did it himself and he knows the work is crap. His silence when Tony was discovering and mentioning everything tells me the seller's done this before - he's faced criticism of his cars and realized silence usually works in his favor.
Tony's good people, and if I was a dude looking for a fast buck by spinning the truth he's the last guy I'd want showing up. I know my mopars pretty well, but he KNOWS A bodies.