[oldE]

I can understand the attraction to old reliable iron trucks. As pointed out they are still available, easy to mod and you can put them to work and not feel guilty about "using it up".

Having said that, looking at images of Craig's '70 brings back memories of a '68 Chev stepside, short wheel base, 6 cylinder with three on the tree:
Worst seats in Christendom. Well, maybe not, but I would rate them at one hour. If I was ever to have to drive a late '60s, early '70s Chev again for any amount of distance, there would be a set of Recarros bolted in after throwing the bench seat as far as I could.
Tough. Trying to navigate across a blueberry field one summer, I wasn't able to get the two wheel drive over the edge of a fire break. My Dad advised:" Hit it a bit faster!". I did. The battery hold down was one of those clamps which pinched the base of the battery. It let go and the battery was bounced out of its spot and a cable was pulled off. No real damage, but that all coil spring suspension was amazing.
Different horses for different courses. I remember looking at that huge gas guage one day as I was proceeding down the highway at shall we say somewhat above the posted limit and noting I could watch the gas guage needle moving left as the engine was pushing close to valve float. Not a highway cruiser in that configuration.
When I first got my old '69 E on the road, I marvelled that it had been built, back when I was tooling around in my father's '68 Chev. But it had been built for a different purpose, at about three times the cost.

I think it's great that we have all these iconic vehicles from our pasts from which to choose as we go through stages of our lives. We get to play with or dream about muscle cars, pick-up trucks, Alfas, 2002s, 911s, 240Zs, BMW Rs, Twin cam Mercedes or what have you. They're out there, and you don't have to be stuck with just one.

Happy restoring, Guys!
Best
Les