Im a preservationist at heart.

If you come across some old iron that is going to need some serious restoration regardless of which way you go, then I say make the call based on your gut.

If you've got a solid running, mostly stock original, i'd leave it alone and appreciate it for what it is.. a living piece of history.

Nothing real special about a old car with a 350 in it and mickey thompsons in the back.. its been done a million times already, and it'll be done a million times again.

Now an all original or mostly stock vehicle.. lets face it, Detroit isnt making iron like that any more. I say leave the stock runners be, and leave the rodding and modding to the heaps that dont run at all.

I wouldn't dream of tearing apart a running machine to rod it.. but on the same token, i'm not at all opposed to finding an old Suburban or other cool body sitting in a feild and setting it on a new frame with a 454 with a blower hanging out the hood.. or even taking that body and setting it on an S10 frame and driving it with the stock V6.. hey.. it was dead in a feild (or a hole) when I found it, so rodding it or heavily changing it from stock isnt that big a deal.

In the end, it's your set of wheels, so with it as you wish.. but i'm sure that a stock version of an old Burb is going to be worth plenty more than a rodded one 30 years from now.

an idea is only stupid if you think about it rationally.