A Conundrum with my Biscayne -- Opinions solicited

[Casey Marks]

I've been having sick thoughts lately about my '68 L72 Biscayne. Some of you saw it at SCR7 in '04, others may not know what the hell I'm talking about.

Here's a couple of pics from SCR7:





It is a 12,000 original mile, Butternut yellow car. Although it has 12k originally, it was raced from day 1 until the late '70's. Came factory with a *DP* coded 4.88 12-bolt. Interior is ALL original and gorgeous. Paint is about 60% original, with the only repaint being a dusting on the sides to cover up the "ghosting" from the original lettering on the car. It still has the original brake shoes and hardware on it.

Here's my conundrum ....

Underneath the hood it looks a little nabby to me. The DZ carb looks like a 38 year old carburetor. The *163* intake has obviously been the recepient of many carb tear downs and fuel puddles. I've got a process that I use with aluminum intakes and my Mopar aluminum manual steering boxes that make aluminum look like it was "just cast". It comes out PERFECT, and it kills me to know that I could mint out that intake and it looks like it does. But if I do the intake it will stick out like a sore thumb if I don't keep going. It's got non-EGR manifolds on it now, BUT I have the original manifolds and all of the original smog equipment that was taken off the car, literally the day it was bought. I really want to put all of the smog stuff back on. Like the carb, the underhood plated components look 38 years old. They aren't all rusty or crusty .... they just look *old*. There's some scratches on the inner fenders from it's race days, and a couple of other things that are kinda scuffed up from 10 years of racing. The rest of the car I'm leaving COMPLETELY alone .... it's just the underhood stuff that bugs the heck out of me. I'm afraid if I mint out one or two things it will snowball because it is all seen as a package.

So here's my question ??? What, if anything would YOU do in my situation ??

1. Leave it all alone and accept the fact that it looks like an old race car underneath the hood.

2. Do "some" things to kinda sex it up a bit.

3. Detail the engine compartment completely and make it look "fresh".

Keeping in mind, of course, I DO race this car at the Pure Stock Drags ..... as it was intended.

Thoughts ???