You have it right, Stan. The only thing customs people are concerned about is the paper work. If that is done, correctly, then a 19?? VW Beetle titled Speedster gets moved across the border.
I can tell (or repeat, that is) an anecdote about when I brought an IM into Canada. I had studied all the websites I could find, and that resulted in a less than clear process to be followed. But, I gathered all the documentation I needed, and had it forwarded to the U.S Customs office in Detroit by the seller, to meet the three day advance requirement.
On the day we picked the car, we arrived at the customs office with it on the back of a flatbed truck I had hired to go to Detroit to pick it up. The said car was clearly visible from the customs counter - a nice bright, red, Speedster. I presented the paper work to a young lady, who proceeded to go through the papers, then decided to look out the window, and discovered said shiny red Speedster did not look like a VW Beetle, as described in the paper work. I reiterated that it was a 19?? VW Beetle, that it was titled as such, but that it had been modified. I couldn't think of what else to say.
At that point, said young lady started to raise her voice a little in concern and asked what was going on? I again stated the car was a 19?? VW, as stated in all the documentation she was clutching more tightly in her hands. She proceeded to object further that that was not was she was seeing out the customs office window.
At that point, I figured the jig was up, and that, much to my chagrin, I would have a longer stay in Detroit than what was planned.
However, an older customs officer - on hearing the commotion - wandered over, surmised the situation, and told the young lady that he would take over. She was only too glad to be relieved of her responsibility. He basically looked at the documentation, looked out the window, and - telling me with 'a wink of his eye and a twist of his head' - said that he was aware of what was going on, that all was legal, and cleared us to leave.
He had the paper work for a 19?? beetle being moved across the border, and he was happy with that. He had fulfilled his job's requirements, and had the documentation to prove it.
And I was the happy owner of a modified, 19?? shiny, red, VW Beetle on its way to its new home across the border.