I spoke to the former owner. The history of this car is quite interesting. The car was bought in the late 70's by the brother of the guy I bought it from. The brother lived in TX and the guy I bought from in FL, where I live. He got the car because his brother was killed in a car accident. Apparently the brother back in the 80's was going to make a race car out of it, so tore out the whole interior, including the dash.
He says he does recall his brother saying that after how ever many years the thing sat torn apart, that he somehow lost the VIN tag so when he went to put the car back together, he went to a junk yard and found a busted up RR and got the VIN plate from that car, which was an RM23. Then when they sent the car to the guy in FL recently, they had to get a title so got one in TX with the RM23 VIN.
He "assures" me that the car was an original RR, but said his brother likely knew nothing about the RM21 vs RM23 issue, hence the disparity. I know that the car is FAR from original and the poor thing has gone through many versions of "rebuilds" for different purposes. In any event, I have what I have and it's going to be gorgeous. Not doing it for "resale" value, just so I have the car I've always wanted, a 69 Road Runner.
So, all that said, I can either be happy wiith it or dig deeper and concern myself with something that doesn't really matter at the end of the day; unless, of course, I was really looking for an OEM resoration, which I clearly was not. So, maybe I have the bastard child of Road Runners, LOL; but she's all mine.
Thanks guys for all your concern, I really appreciate it. Oh, I already did get a FL title with no problem, with the RM23 VIN.
John