New Thread-to Be Or Not To Be?

Let me make a case in point about my Demon.........

It was an original 318 car with A/C, but just a plain Jane with Dog Dish hub caps...........no stripes, no spoiler or scoop, no NUTHIN............

SO, I got out all of the manuals and illustrations I could muster and proceeded to add a whole list of options to the car like the correct spoiler (with the correct cutouts and brackets underneath), the correct scoop (real Mopar, along with the correct ram air holes), side stripes, & tail panel stripe.

You know what? It STILL didn't pop. The stripes were looking very "unfinished" to me.....just black blobs.......I outlined them with a thin gold pinstripe and they JUMPED off the car.........no comparison to stock. I decided to black out the top of the front half, and continue the line up around the windows to frame it off.........Again, finishing it with a gold pinstripe........POP again.

To this I added new woodgrain to the dash, but changed it to Burl.......Incredible difference from the painted walnut.........

To make it short, I kept the car looking as if it had come that way from the factory, BUT purists and car guys would see the difference up front.....BUT, I NEVER got a negative remark......in fact, it was always the opposite......The car always drew crowds, and was a favorite for photos.

AND, I took "Best Mopar" at a popular central Florida Classic Car show TWICE with the Demon, against some pretty stiff competition, including some "to die for" B and E bodies and the like that were done to bone stock flawless appearance................

In my book, you do what you like........You have to drive it, show it, wax it and polish it........You're the one who'll feel the sense of accomplishment by what you create.........If we all stayed purist, guys like Chip Foose would not exist................and some of the most expensive Mopars out there right now are cleanly done Resto-Mods.........

But, like the guys have said, if you have a RARE production car, then think very carefully about changing it.....they're better off saved to original specs by far......there are PLENTY of great Mopars to resto-mod that wouldn't ever amount to much dollar value without your added creative input. 8)