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It's not illegal
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What is illegal under 18 USC 511 would be to take the VIN from that hulk and put it on one of those new repro bodies, no matter the reason. I am very familiar with this statute.
Under 511 (a) (1) if you remove it for an illegal purpose you are committing the crime. Under 511 2 (B) "reasonably necessary for repair" does not include placing the VIN on another body. Under 511 (C) it doesn't work either: "a person who restores or replaces an identification number in accordance with applicable State law." I have yet to find any State laws that authorize VIN tag swapping to another car body. And, as we all learned in the Federal Courts class at law school, in the absence of a State statute directly on point, the Federal statute will be deemed the supreme authority on the subject. (The Supremacy Clause)