Survivor? original? Or numbers matching?

I think that too many people get their nose all outta joint on this stuff. And here are a few reasons why I feel this way:

In 2003, my niece's 2001 Ram was vandalized. I got the job of repainting it. She had bought this truck new, with just 1.6 miles showing on the odometer. Upon me sanding it for a repaint, I learned that the hood and right fender had been painted and cleared no less than five times. So a proper resto on this truck years fromm now would need that, right?

Back around 1990, I parted a 1971 Fury. I sold the complete immaculate black interior to a guy who wished to change out his green. No joke, there were six broadcast sheets in that Fury. All for that car. The kicker is that two off them had the words "corrected copy" in red type in the bottom margin. Sooooo, any resto based on a broadcast sheet can now be suspect, because you may not find the "corrected copy"

Somewhere in my stash of paper work is a form I found in a 74 Swinger "Mutilations" which had a diagram of the car on it, with a few areas circled and the notation "buff". I guess assembly line correct would be to leave the dirt or whatever in the paint.

I could go on and on, but you get the point. Unless you were at the plant, built the car, and never left it out of your sight since, nobody really, truly, "knows" how it came. Long winded rant over, lol.