Which way would make you happier and enjoy the car more?
I would follow the old adage that I saw on a bumper sticker: What would Jesus do?
I think he would want you to build it as it was meant to be - with all the neat vintage speed parts.
They are all essentially bolt-ons. It seems like the only thing that would be a body mod would be the hood. Get a steel regular hood and have that painted at the same time you do the rest of the car. Then when the time comes to revert to "born again" condition it would be just a weekend of unbolting the speed parts.
Sorry to go all biblical on you there.
