"Day Two" modifications that are still ok.......

I was at a show-n-shine for a local Chevy club the other day and someone asked me what I thought about a 68 SS396 Chevelle that had a 750 double-pumper Holley an "old" style Edelbrock Torker intake-the one where the carb sat at an angle. I said I was perfectly fine with it, that it was "period correct" and in my mind made the car much cooler than it would be if it had a modern Perfromer RPM or Torker II sitting on it. He got a weird look on his face and then said-"Why?"  "Modified is modified."  "Please don't start that "Just as it left the factory crap."  I said. "If you had a 2009 Mustang GT that was out of warranty and blew a radiator hose on a Friday night would you go to Autozone and get a replacement so you could drive the car all weekend or would you wait until Monday when the dealer opened to get a "Genuine" Motorcraft hose? "And on that same Mustang-would you keep it totally stock for the next 40 years or would you maybe add an K&N air filter, a cat-back exhaust, and a computer chip?"  "What are you trying to say?" He asked, confused. "I'm saying that people played with musclecars just like we play with modern ones." "Why do you think there's so many 4-speed Chevelles and Camaros out there with Hurst shifters?"  "GTOs, Firebirds and Olds 442s, had Hurst shifters from the factory, but Chevys had that awful body-mounted Muncie shifter." "Forget powershifting, you couldn't even shift them above about half-throttle." "Everyone hated those and immediately swapped them for trans-mounted Hurst or Mr. Gasket unit."  "That's what you call a Day two mod." "Even when the car was new, so many people did it, that now a lot of people think it's standard equipment." "Well, if you had a Chevy in the late '60's or early '70's, the most popular mod was swapping the iron intake and Q-Jet carb for an Edelbrock Torker or Tarantula manifold and a 780 Holley or a 650 or 750 double-pumper." "That car is refreshing because that means that manifold's been on there since about 1970." "Which makes it cooler than if it had a brand-new Performer RPM." "I'd rather see a Point-type Accel or Mallory distributor on a '69 Camaro than I would an HEI distributor and an MSD box." "Wouldn't you rather see 15" American Racing Torq-Thrusts or Cragar S/S mags on a '65 GTO instead of 20 inch Center Lines?"  "I never thought about it, but your right." The guy replied "I like the 68-70 Chargers, and they look good with Cragars or even the old Ansen Sprint slot mags." "But they look like crap with modern 18 or 19 inch wheels and tires with no sidewall."  We talked some more and agreed that a 1968 GTO with an Edelbrock P4B manifold, a set of headers, and Cragar mags was just as "Right" now as it was in 1969.  We also agreed that the same GTO with a modern LS motor, a Tremec 5-speed, and 22 inch wheels is an abomination and it's builder should be dragged out into the street and shot, or my personal favorite-entrails cut out and burned. A Mopar fan, he also believed a 340 Duster with an LD340 manifold , headers and traction bars was fine, but he was sick to death of seeing Challengers and Chargers with modern 5.7, 6.1, and 6.4 fuel-injected Hemis. So, here's the guidelines I'd go by-modifications are ok if the parts were built within 10 years of the car. That means a '57 Chevy with a 327 or even a 427 is ok. That means a 1973 Trans-Am with an Edelbrock Performer intake, Recaro seats and a Doug Nash / Richmond 5-speed is cool. That also means a '65 Mustang with the Fuel-injected "5.0"  motor and a T-5 or '68 Camaro with a TPI L98 350 and a 700R4 is definitely NOT cool. The 10 years after rule is right because it encompasses what gearheads would do to the car when they were still fairly new, and utilizes parts that were available at the time, either new or used.  For example- if you yank the 2-speed Powerglide out of your 327 powered '66 Chevelle and drop in a 3-speed TH350 ( which is a "drop-in"-they are exactly the same length, the same bolt-pattern, and use the same rear trans mount and driveshaft yoke ). You've drastically improved the performance and drivability of the car. And a lot people did this around say-1970. On the other hand-an electronically controlled six-speed auto like a 2010 Camaro has wasn't even invented in 1976.  Or for that matter, '86, or '96!!  See the difference? Mastermind