Reply to "Original and Modified (A gentleman's discussion)"

Haha, you got balls starting that thread, but should be good discussions. The "gentleman's discussion" adds a nice emphasis. I like both for what each is in itself, and probably shouldn't even be compared since both examples are so different. There is nothing like seeing a totally stock Pantera since they are a rarity time capsule, and there is also nothing like seeing an excellent modified Pantera too just to see the creativity involved which is usually to make it more exotic/super car looking and higher performing. Like this antique table we have in front of our couch, we could have left it alone "as is" with the patina, but damn it sure looks great all sanded down with a custom finish on it.

I still miss my basically stock orange Pantera for what it was "stock", but over time it got a bit plain looking to me and I just felt I needed more "oomph" in appearance and performance. I still love both though. When I see one at a show totally stock, I could stand there for hours just looking it over and thinking what people thought of that wild looking exotic back in the 1970s, whereas today it blends in with other exotics a bit more than way back then. Plus seeing a beautiful well built modified car at a show, can't help but look it all over for the craftsmanship, attention to detail, mirror paint job, etc and say Damn! All I can say though is if you want others respect for the car and to really make it stand out, then dump the money into it to make it a nice modified car. But some don't want to get close to $200K or so to build a real nice modified car, so we see all kinds of things out there. For instance we have all seen the standouts at car shows on hot rods that are done well, such as a $300K Nomad build for instance vs one that is just a run of the mill modified Nomad. Sure we all have limited dollars, but just saying that it often shows up in the builds too. But then the saying goes "well its my car", which is true too, but then don't expect everyone to gawk over it.

But not sure of the thought about the modifides bringing down the value of the originals. I thought it was more of the opposite, in that so many have been chopped into or otherwise modified that the true originals have increased in value just because of rarity. Like my antique table I messed with, now is less rare to a true collector in its new and improved state. But damn, it sure looks good!