Couldn't agree with you more. After market "mods" kill the car and I for one am completely against modifying classics. These however are period correct grafts that the VW beetle did come with. A 1957 beetle rolled out of the factory with an oval rear window, the earlier style dash panel etc. The ragtop was a factory option as well, this two fold ragtop being correct to the 1957 year model.
The project was started to put to good use, the oval window clip, the dash and the ragtop all three of which are ultra rare and impossible to come by in our part of the world. wasting these therefore would be more cruel than to weld and graft. This case being a '58 that had undergone so much abuse in so many areas that a few more welds and cuts hardly devalued the car. With oval window beetles so few that you can count them on two hands and ragtops fewer still, this just could not be left undone...
As for cutting, rest assured, the cuts are being placed intelligently. Saving the pillars and retaining all structural integrity. The last thing we want is a rattling squeaking bucket... Stay tuned and you will enjoy what is to follow