Dave, for some they "need" the numbers, the "numbers" are their part of self satisfaction in a rebody/restoration I guess, for me, like I stated, the only numbers that matter are the ones the RMV/DMV "likes", or the ones that I have a clean title to, and or a vehicle they came with...

Someone on here once "challenged" me that I never used "numbers" from a /6,318 car on a vehicle of so called "greater value" numbers wise, I told them they lost that bet, I have used /6,318 numbers on some big blk higher end vehicles, because I truly don't care about the "numbers" in the sense that most restorer/investors/collectors do, if I buy a car much like the OP is interested in, my priority is a set of clean numbers to title/tag the vehicle, if "high end numbers" fall into my hand, so be it, usually my desired builds are already planned, long before the vehicle is found, personally I've never built a vehicle to "found" numbers, but I do know of plenty that have been built this way, often for personal reasons, not immediate resale

Mike