In Texas, and I would bet in most states, the 'car' for legal reason is the part with the VIN stamped on it.

For instance Mercedes. There is a VIN plate on the radiator support but that is just there to make it easy to read. The real VIN in a lot of cases is stamped on the cowl. And from that cowl you could build a car.

I don't think a lot of W110's are going to be built around a cowl, but I do know someone who is doing just that with a 280Se Coupe that was in a flood. The car was trashed (and I mean flood car trashed) but they are betting that when they finish with it no one will care about the salvage title.