[elmariachi]

You can skip the VIN-related inspection steps and install your own VIN if you want. You just need to do a pencil trace or photograph the VIN as stamped on the frame and take those docs in when you apply for a title.

Unless you use the frame, you have no legal obligation to use the title. In my opinion it would be a mistake to try and use a "donor title" to register a replica, especially with the changes in the law that now allow you to register these cars as the year they are intended to replicate. A donor title muddies the water for what is now a very simple process, and you don't wind up with the baggage that could come with an old title.