Charly,
I wholeheartedly agree with everything you're saying.

The point I was trying to make (but clearly failed to do so) is a slightly different one, however. Most cars with faded paint look neglected and crappy. Generally speaking, the most a car is seen as a luxury car, the more it needs to be clean and shiny. Very few cars are qualified to show totally faded and worn through paint with pride. To mind come: 1930s to early 1950s pickup trucks, old Volkswagen Busses and Beetles, Mercedes Fintail sedans, and Humpback Volvos. It's in line with the "theme cars" I love so much, among them the "Joe Dirt" movie Daytona which I once owned.

In line with that we specifically should consider the so-called barn finds that are up for sale. In such cases most people, potential buyers, whether preservatioists like myself, or restorationists, prefer to get their barn finds "as found" with spider webs and all. It's like the pirates' cave. Start messing with a discovery, and you take away much of the excitement.

But, and here we agree as well, it's a totally subjective thing. Everyone his own . . .