Don't go overboard trying to be "Original"

People complain about the high cost of restoring a 40 or 50 year old car, but I think a lot of people's problem is the "Just as it left the factory" mentality. If concours is your bag, and you want to compete in that arena and nit-pick other rich peoples garage jewelry-( "You lose 10 points because you had the wrong kind of hose clamps" )  Go ahead. However, if your going to drive the car at all, that type of mentality is unrealistic. Is a pristine 1970 Boss 302 Mustang really worth less because it has a Sears Die Hard Battery and a Fram oil filter instead of NOS Autolite?  Is an LT-1 Corvette "Ruined" because it has a #4779 Double-Pumper carb on it instead of the original #3310 Vacuum-secondary model? Would you NOT buy a gorgeous 57 Chevy Impala Convertible because it had an alternator instead of a generator on the 283 V8? Or if it had a 350 in it?  I've mentioned this before, but I know a guy who almost didn't buy an unrestored but always garaged, one-owner 80,000 mile 68 Charger because it had a bench seat and a two-barrel carb on the 383!!  "For God's sake!"  I told him. "Putting bucket seats and a factory or aftermarket 4bbl carb and intake on it is not going to hurt the value!!"  "Your actually thinking of not buying a car as nice as this one because of the carburator?!"  "Are you out of your mind?"  He listened and bought the car.  I know another guy who was anal about a gorgeous 69 Camaro we saw on a used car lot. The car was Hugger orange with black interior and had a mild 350 and a Saginaw 4-speed trans. It also had nice Centerline wheels and BFG T/A tires on it.  He hemmed and hawwed, because the numbers showed it was originally a six-cylinder, three-speed model! "So what?"  I said. "It's worth more now with a V8 and a 4-speed than it would be if it was orignal." "It's not a Yenko or a Z/28." "People aren't fighting with machetes for six-cylinder 3-speed models." "Your never going to find a V8, 4-speed 69 Camaro at anywhere near this price." "Who gives a shit if it's not orignal?"  Sadly, he did not come to his senses, and kicked himself every time we saw the happy owner banging through the gears on the way to work.  I know another moron who didn't buy an immaculate 400, 4-speed, 69 GTO Judge because it was "A fake."  It wasn't an original Judge, the owner had just painted it that way and added the spoilers and emblems because he thought he'd get more money when he sold it. It was however, a for-real numbers-matching 400, 4-speed, 69 GTO. And the price was reasonable even for a non-Judge model.  Be reasonable in your expectations and don't scour the galaxy for unobtainable cars and parts, and you'll be a lot happier. Mastermind