Help with fender tag

[RockNRoLL198705]

Hey, I'm looking for help decoding a fender tag. I've tried using the information that shows up on google without much luck, but I have noticed that the members here seem to be pretty good at it. Tag is on a Blue 1974 duster:

V5X END
L31 M21 M25 M26 M85 R11
V1Y U 22 F11 G33 H51
JY3 E2Y4 000 321 387009
E24 034 LH23 C3R 272299

Any help would be very appreciated, as I'm getting wildly different results with my own attempts.

 

[Raleigh Rocket]

Hey, I'm looking for help decoding a fender tag. I've tried using the information that shows up on google without much luck, but I have noticed that the members here seem to be pretty good at it. Tag is on a Blue 1974 duster:

V5X END
L31 M21 M25 M26 M85 R11
V1Y U 22 F11 G33 H51
JY3 E2Y4 000 321 387009
E24 034 LH23 C3R 272299

Any help would be very appreciated, as I'm getting wildly different results with my own attempts.

Use this decoder. In my case, it hasn't been wrong yet.

 

[RockNRoLL198705]

That's a good decoder, I'll definitely bookmark it!

I have a few followup questions though. As I understand it, the last sequence of letters/numbers is the VIN, correct? If that's the case than could I have the wrong fender tag? Cause my VIN is VL29B4BXXXXXX. According to the VIN, The car is a 1974 Duster with a 198 slant six...but according to the fender tag its a 1973 Demon with a 225 slant six. Also, the emissions information next to the fender tag also identifies the engine as a 225 Slant six...so confusing. There's other discrepancies - Car is blue not gold, has half vinyl top not full, has bucket seats not bench...has am/fm not am only, etc. Why would someone switch the fender tags?

 

[slantsixdan]

In the case of a high-dollar-value car, the wrong fender tag is usually put there as a part of the car-faking process. In the case of a low-dollar-value car, it probably just means someone repaired the car by swapping sheetmetal (inner fender) from another vehicle at some point in its life.

Either way, yes, you've got the wrong fender tag for the car...or else the car really is a '73 Dart Sport (nothing such as a '73 Demon) with a 225, and someone swapped in a dashboard, complete with VIN, from a '74 Duster. What's the Vehicle Safety Certification Label say, on the driver's door? And what's the car's front and rear sheetmetal look like? Dart Sport or Duster?

 

[RockNRoLL198705]

Definitely a Duster; has the Duster tail lights, hood and grill. I guess the inner fender was replaced at some point, maybe the whole front end. It has fiberglass fenders on it which I know aren't original. Maybe something bad happened to the car in the past. I'm going to be taking the drive train out over the next week, so I guess I'll do some investigating then. Thanks for the help!