Agree they are ugly.
Some random thoughts on the ugliness of them:
Another thing folks do is just use an engine cover over the whole thing, but that kills any and all old school vibes. Check out the plastic covers on Escalades--you could score one at a junkyard and with some grinding off of logos and some flat paint make it plain looking.
There is also a kit to install smallblock valve covers on them, again you have to re-locate the ugly coil packs. Holley makes some covers that look a bit like regular valve covers but cover over the whole coil-pack debacle. Hot Rod John'l 2nd link probably covered this type of stuff.
The truck motors are the ugliest, the plastic intake looks bad--you can switch in an LS1 or LS6 car intake that look much better, but that would be the only reason to change them out.
I have seen someone cleverly use two four-barrel carbs that were mounted on top of it all. The carbs were gutted or wired open and served as air cleaner mounts and for looks only. Air pulling through them was then routed to the front of the fuel-injected intake. From 20 yards away it looked OK, but the closer you looked the worse it looked.
I have thought about using an old 14-inch air cleaner from old 64 283 smallblock mounted on top and routed to the intake, just concerned I might achieve the same results as the guy with the two cards just mentioned.
In the end what I may end up doing is just keeping the hood shut. The good thing about the LS motors is that keeping the hood shut is very achievable as they are very trouble-free.
