Overhaulin'

How much can you modify a car before it's not the same car?

I was thinking about getting an old emissions exempt car as a project but then i started to think about all the things i would do to it and it would be a completely different car. So now I'm curious, how much could you modify a car before the law doesn't recognize it as the car you bought it as? what if I replaced every single part of the car, I mean absolutely everything except the VIN plates? Would it still be the same make and model? How would that be any different from ripping the VIN off some car and putting it on another?

Public Comments

1. Once you register it with the VIN number, that's what it will be forever. Taking the VIN off one car & putting it on another car is a federal crime.