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PS: When selling/buying private party, there are always two things that get double checked: As a buyer, verify that the VIN on the frame and motor match the title, and as a seller count the money twice.
It would be one thing if he went to get the paperwork put in his name and got rejected by the authorities because of a doctored VIN.
But his "friends". Forget those guys. What do they know? Maybe they aren't familiar with the older bikes and have only seen the new dot-matrix style VINs.
At a glance (on my phone with bad eyes) that VIN looks period correct.
Probably legit. Harley, and other manufacturers use weird fonts and spacing 'cause its actually harder to counterfeit. Not so, in the old days. I remember my EL knuckle had numbers that looked like a child had struck 'em with a set of hardware store stamps. But that was then, and now's different.
Tell him to get it inspected at whatever you guys have for a DMV. If it fails then come back and see you. Or go with him.
Also tell him to tell his friends to mind their own business.
Back in the day, one of my specialities was auto larceny (the police end....not those other guys) and I have seen my fair share of reworked VIN numbers. This numbers are a proper style and of uniform depth with excellent margins which means they were all stamped simultaneously. Those milling marks on the boss are as straight as an arrow and uniform in depth which means -if- someone re-did the number they did the entire number simultaneously.. Frankly, I don't see anything in your photo that causes me to raise an eyebrow. Is your federal sticker intact so that there is a number to compare to?
Sounds to me like your purchaser is suffering from buyer's remorse. Have him take it to a HD dealer and let them be the judge....or give him his money back and sell that motorcycle to someone who doesn't whine every time he exhales. A guy like that doesn't deserve to have a nice motorcycle.
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Vin-problem
