Mohsin Sb.
Very nicely said. I have to say however, that we are sometimes the culprits as well. As you said, we don't know the financial conditions of a person, so calling him names would not be nice at all. That said, there are persons that "collect " cars without any aims to restore them - or even just to gain a bit of cred for being - as they say in French - "passionés".
Another thing that I find that ruffles people's feathers a lot are the "resto-mods". That is to say, older cars in good mechanical nick, given the guts of a new car.
For example, a Toyota 1KZ-TE in a Daimler conquest. It's a quiet diesel engine with lots of power and torque. Coupled with an auto tranny, modern assisted brakes and new suspension parts, it would make for a car that is fast and economical to drive.
How about a 1UZ-FE in a model B? Modern 260+BHP All-aluminium V8 power with unburstable reliability?
On the other end of the scale, putting in an old, tired engine in an Alfa or Lancia just because the owner wasn't bothered to do something original isn't the way to go about things either. Or a huge powerplant in an old car without proper mods to the brakes, suspension and chassis, is an accident waiting to happen.
In the end, I would think, it's your car, you know what you can pay, you know your own skills. Try to stay in the spirit of the car and bring it up to your standards.
If I restored a car, I might go for a resto-mod as well, but I'll try to do it with the designer's perspective in mind. If he wanted something sporty, I'd use parts that make it sporty and secure. If he wanted luxury, I'll try to modify it for luxury.
My 2 cents...
Cheers!
Sami
