Hey Steve,
You sent me down a rabbit hole just now. I was familiar a bit with the car but I never questioned the story... Now that you mention it there's not much goose there at all. On the tube frame, you can see a faint 7 stamped underneath the 8.
Would be interesting to see how the car is registered with the DMV. I have a trick for this but it only works on California vehicles subject to smog. (https://www.bar.ca.gov/inspection)