My neighbor's brother is selling a 1983 Mini Mayfair. He brought the car back with him after a visit to Scotland in the mid-eighties. In order to register the Mayfair, he said he purchased a 1966 Mini parts car, removed the VIN tag, and attached it to the '83 Mini, resulting in the '83 being titled here in the U.S. as a 1966. He claims that it is perfectly legal to do so.

In an attempt to verify such actions, I looked around on the 'net, and found a '79 Mini for sale in Virginia, which appeared to have a 1965 VIN tag.

So, is this a common practice, and most important, is it legal? Seems to me that it's an end run around federalization (steel beams in the doors, reinforced bumpers, etc), but maybe it's perfectly legit.

Also, he wants $10K, which includes a spare 998cc engine (he says there's an 1100 in it now), a spare sub-frame, and a bunch of other misc. spares. Car has around 60K miles.

Thanks for your help. Not sure if this is a good deal or not - aside from the VIN issues, seems a bit high priced to me.