In Germany you can sue because of "Störung der Totenruhe" (disturbing the grave peace) but *sadly enough* this doesn't apply to retro icons like a C64 (regardless if in working shape or not).
A friend recently told me he would like to to such a mod. The amount of cursing that followed is not appropriate for repetition here; I think he kind of abandoned the idea.
It's really sad when a C64 is ripped appart like that for the sole purpose of making a PC appear retro.
ive still got a vic20 but the damn tape cassette thingie dont work, something wrong with the azimuth or whatever its called, plays all the tapes warbly, but i can turn it on and marvel at the slightly overblue front screen and chunky as hell text hehe.