at what point do we enter and exit grey?
black: a car is stolen, and the VIN is replaced with a VIN from a totaled car. yeah, for sure a bad thing here.
white: you are restoring your car, and you replace both rear quarters, both front fenders, and maybe a few other odds and ends. this is not a bad thing, you are restoring your classic e-body.
grey
: now that most of the major sheet metal is being restamped, and your rust bucket needs those parts, you go ahead and replace everything, but you keep the radiator support, data plate, the cowl, and the VIN tag.
or
you find a rust free donor car, and use it to replace the body that you rolled when the tire blew and you were doing 90mph, keeping the radiator support, data plate, the cowl and the VIN tag.
or
all you have is a VIN you bought off e-bay, and you get someone to make a data plate, and take a donor car and apply them to that and pass it off.
somewhere in that grey area, we probably have seen some degree of shadiness, at the end of the day it is Caveat Emptor, LEt the buyer beware. hopefully, if you are plunking down $87,000 you have done some homework.
