Ray's just pointing out that virtual;y every M1 owner feels the need to festoon their car with stripes, spoilers and tu-tone hoods, regardless of originality.
The chrome bumper doesn't bother me, given just how difficult it can be to find a good condition urethane unit.
I tend to agree with both faithful restoration and restomod ways of thinking, simply because not all cars out there are rare, collectible, or valuable. Take my lowly H-Code, for example - a no stripe/no spoiler car, but with factory Ram Air. I'd planned on a full stripe & spoiler package, but then noticed the overwhelming numbers of "stripe/spoiler/Tutone/Magnum 500" cars out there, and decided I didn't want another cookie-cutter 'cosmetically overloaded' car. I ain't gonna lie - seeing cars with lower bright trim and hockey stripes bugs the crap out of me as well... now that I know better. I liken it to throwing on a set of Mach 1 decals and calling it a Mach 1, when in fact it might be a Sportsroof - that's either negligent, dishonest, or a little bit of both in my opinion. But, people do what people do, and at the end of the day, it's not my car OR my problem. No sleep lost here.
I opted for a chrome bumper because my painter couldn't figure out how to get the primer to stick, let alone the paint (I'm sure), but it's safe in my storage unit for eventual reintegration with the car. Oddly enough, I actually like the chrome front bumper look, and am in no particular hurry to replace it.
I guess after learning as much as I have over the years regarding the various models and configurations, I've become something not quite in the 'purist' category (maybe 'purist-lite'), and certainly respect the desire to see them faithfully restored... but that only makes sense to me for the rare, collectible, and/or valuable cars. Average Joe Mustang buyer of the day would've tossed on some louvers, swapped in some air shocks and extended shackles, thrown on some Cragars or Keystone Classics along with some drag slick-sized tires in the back, and ditched the factory manifolds for some Blackjack headers and Cherry Bombs. That's kind of what I did with mine, but got it back to as close to 'original-looking' as I could along the way (throw on a set of steelies and sport caps, and my car's looking pretty much as Ford made it - chrome front bumper, missing lower bright trim, and louvers aside, that is).
I still say, "Build it how you like." If that happens to be a restomod, faithful restoration, or something in between, so be it.
