I'd have no problem taking an old late 70's Suburban and putting a Hummer kit on it anymore than kids in the 50's had a problem chopping up old '26 chevys.
When it comes to the trucks I love the most, the 40-49 Chevys, I like to see them as "stock" as possible. In my humble opinion, there's more to those trucks than just the way they look rolling down the street. It's how they feel when your rolling down the road.. it's how that straight 6 sounds when it's cranking over.. it's a true mult-dimensional experience. Replace the original frame and drivetrain you're going to loose one or more of the components that make the overall experience.
Now on the same token, I can totally appreciate a person in a position where they have a solid '46 body, but drivetrain is either unsalvagable, or missing all together.
Building a new frame and assembling a new drivetrain "as stock" would be time consuming and very expensive. Picking up a wrecked S10 for $500 and slapping the '46 body on the newer s10 frame would be a cost effective, easier way to get her rolling again.. and it's not like you couldn't sometime down the road when resources permit, put the body back on a 'genuine' frame.
In my book, putting a vintage body on a newer frame and drivetrain DOES take away a good portion of the trucks 'mojo'.. but then again, letting it sit and rust into oblivion isn't exactly a dignified way to go, either.
For those of us who have a solid body, and don't have thousands of dollars to spend building a new frame and drivetrain from the ground up, putting the truck on a newer frame and keeping the external appearance stock is far less offensive than chopping the top and making a "hot rod" out of it.
