"restored" is a very broad category, there are levels to restoration. Concourse restoration, for example, would mean all original/date coded parts in most cases. People will say it's had a "rotisserie restoration", well, that means something different too and I'd expect the bottom of the car to be nicer, right? I would not expect a car that's just been "restored" to be all original or date code correct, that is the most strict sense of the word. Clearly the car in question has not been restored back to factory or concourse levels, but it's pretty far beyond just a rebuild.
Right, but in 1984 how many people gave a flip about an original exhaust hanger? Not nearly as many as now, that's for sure. And a magazine restoration? More about the deadlines and the print than making it a gold concourse car. Again, this car was in a condition such that the owner didn't think twice about trading it for a rebuilt Muncie.
The washer/"coin" on the 340 K's appears to have started in '68 sometime, at least according to other 340 owners
69 340 k member? Help
But, the presence of the washer and the torque boxes was not 100%. There are legitimate 340 cars without them. They may be the exceptions, but, my point is there are exceptions. Which is why taking a single item and calling fraud if it's not present is silly on these cars. The factory did not have the level of diligence as some of our purists do now. A single missing thing doesn't make a fraudulent deal. If multiple things were missing then sure, my index of suspicion would go up with each item. But ultimately, if the numbers on the body, engine and transmission match, well, that's a pretty good argument for being a legit 340 car. Better than it not being one just because a 56 year old car that's been rebuilt/restored multiple times came out missing an exhaust hanger at some point. I mean how many cars are missing fender tags because they were lost at the shop or by a previous owner? You'd think that would be more important than an exhaust hanger, and people lose fender tags all the time.