I want to make the case for keeping a classic mechanically stock, which is apparently a controversial position in some circles.

The factory engineers who designed these cars were not idiots working with primitive tools. They made choices based on the technology available, the manufacturing costs, and the performance targets of the era. A numbers-matching, stock-configuration classic tells you something about what driving felt like in 1968. A restomod tells you what driving feels like with modern parts.

Both have value. But there's a particular pleasure in understanding a machine as it was conceived — learning to work with its weaknesses, appreciating its strengths in context, feeling the history through the steering wheel.