It's still a common thing, I owned a VQ SV90 CAPRICE now they were never made! The customer approached the dealer wanting the CAPRICE not the STATESMAN as a base for his HSV, the dealer simply fitted all the parts at the time of PD, anbd had whatever mods done to the engine for the 200KW upgrade... bingo! SV90 Caprice. It still hasn't got the HSV build tags etc even though the dealer receipt said something along the lines of HSV SV90 Package on it.
Another example is the leather trim in all the Hilux's that work buys, the dealer has it done before we receive the car, because Toyota don't do leather trim in a hilux.

The fact is this sort of practice is still not uncommon today, but with time and numerous owners, the facts get blurred, and the truth is lost for a better story!