You want to know what others think?
Well I think this is another advert (hot on the heels of that last one which didn't quite "add up" for the chassis and parts....)
attempting to dress something dodgy up as legitimate.
As you say CJ, legitimate car or not, getting rid of the patina which tells us a story is tantamount to sacrilege.
I guess in the Chequered Flag days, whether the car had a dodgy identity or not was not very significant. When you are asking a lot of money for something it IS.
I don't believe that consideration of import duty had anything to do with what chassis number went on that car.
Another case of buyer beware, but in saying that I'd still LOV1(t) if I could afford it!