The stock versus originality issue is definitely a personal choice. But I do know that originality does not equal streetability in many situations with today's streets and highways. Having 4.56 gears in my 3/4 ton and a 235 straight six that does not like to rev past 3500 rpm, means cruising on the highway at speeds dangerously slower than other traffic. Slowing down climbing mountains to at times, single digit speeds, is another extreme safety issue. So to me, original is nice if you can do it...or want to, but I can't fault ANYBODY for wanting to bring an AD truck up to date.
I admit that with the stovebolt, even without a decent paint job, I took home trophies at car shows that other people with MUCH nicer AD trucks didn't, mainly because people's choice tended to prefer the stovebolt. But none of my truck is original anyway. It's got parts that vary from 1949 to 1954, and had a 1959 stovebolt in it; so exactly what part of my truck is original is a darn good question. It's Frankentruck.
Now, if I had a beautiful original survivor, I might have made more of an effort to keep it that way.
The 350 I've got is one I've built myself, and it's been stone reliable all these years. I first had it in a '68 Corvette, then moved it into an '86 IROC-Z, and now will power my '52 GMC. In every case, it's been a great engine. And the funny thing is, it's picking up parts from each of those applications. It has the flywheel from the Corvette, and will have the tuned port injection from the IROC.
My IROC, by the way, had 3.42 gears with a built 700R4 and that first gear in the tranny was STEEP. I can't imagine how brutally yours must launch with 3.90 gears! Wow.
Sounds really nice.
I also redid my interior with the plush leather back seat out of a Ford Expedition to use as my front seat, and resultingly, it is one of the more comfortable vehicles that I have to cruise in.
No...mine's a driver, and therefore must remain streetable.
