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There are two partial VIN stampings on the firewall behind the AC/heat case which should match your dash VIN and title.
Very strange indeed. No cowl tag. VIN is for a 79 Van Nuys built car that is on dash. Door VIN and manufacture date,(12/80), are from an 81'. Computer and all the equipment under dash is from an 81'. Gas door is from an 81', but a lot of people use those on 79' model cars too. Gauges are from an 81' model and so is the bezel. Brake master cylinder is from an 81' model. The color of the floor panels, which looks to be factory paint, was not a factory color in 79'. The color looks to be paint code 20, which is Bright Blue Metallic from 1981. Check your build sheet that you found and see if it shows the car being built the last month of Dec. 1980. Look at block #1 on build sheet the bottom #'s in that block should have a 12-something for the date it was built. For example my car is a 79' and was built in March of 79', it has 03-21 in that block, which is March the 21st. I'm not saying it is an 81' model, but more signs point to it being an 81' than a 79'.
Yes, you will see the stampings after you remove the case...which will take some time to get off
Getting even more strange. The build sheet is from a 1980 Formula according to the vin on the sheet. Also the car according to the build sheet you have was built in Nov 1979 with the interior that is in the car now. The door sticker is a different vin from a 1981 car that was built in Dec 1980. Lastly the vin you have on the dash is from a 79' TA with a 403, 2nd digit is a w which stands for Trans Am. Looks to be 3 different vins so far.
Sorry to say that everything posted points to a VIN swap.The only VIN stamps to verify the issue are those behind the AC/heater case. Compare those to your dash and you will have a definite answer.
The door vin is the vin # on the driver side door sticker that you took a picture of. I can make out enough of it to see that it is 1981 vin listed that is different from the build sheet and the vin you have on the dash. You can also make the the manufacture date on the door sticker which was 12/80 or Dec. 1980. I would agree in saying that more than likely this car is not a 79' model. Very fishy that there is no cowl tag to verify anything either. You do not need any special tools to remove the suitcase, it is just hard to get to some of the nuts to remove them.
Will be easier if you just remove the inner fender well, not the entire fender. Can get to everything much easier.