If you're doing a concourse restoration the markings are important and points will be deducted if they aren't there.

The books show the basic locations and type of markings usually used on the assembly line and are considered a "guide" nothing more. Of course if you have pictures of the actual markings for your car then reproducing them is the way to go. However, if they have been removed over the years then the only way to reproduce the markings is to use the book and put a similar type marking where there would have been one on the assembly line.

Is this a totally accurate method? No, but it is the best anyone can do without actual evidence saved from the original.

When Mark is putting markings on a car if its an "X" then he puts an "X" there. Its not a tracing of what's in the book, but a similar marking, nothing more. No one anywhere can prove its the wrong marking, but if its not there, they can prove the restoration wasn't to concourse standards.

If someone wants to restore a car to that level, then the markings are required. Not my cup of tea, but some purists are pretty anal about things like that.