I appreciate original cars and respect the work it can take to fully restore one correctly (whoever coined the phrase, "anyone can restore a car, but it takes a real man to cut one up," obvious never tried to do a correct restoration).

That being said, my own taste (in what I would prefer to own or drive) would fall under the resto-mod or protouring type. So, I understand where you are coming from. My car may have upgraded suspension, brakes, and powertrain, but it still takes me back when I go for a drive.

As far as that particular car, you'd probably have a bit of a difficult time duplicating it for the price as it sits even with you doing most of the labor. Looks really clean (I actually love the color!). I'm wondering if the tubular arms are brand name or cheap knock offs, same with the coil overs. And the brakes, although upgraded to discs, seem like they're small (like meant for people trying to stick with 14/15" rims). Looked like at least one set of leaf spring bushings could use replacement. But overall, a really nice driver-level restoration. And the LS1 swap appears to be clean. I'd want to make sure the factory wire harness was replaced with new while they were doing the swap. No rips or tears in the top or it's seams. Are the floor boards original or replacement? You mentioned some other things that I saw as well.

My personal feeling, from what we can see in the pictures,private party low $30s would be a fair price to pay. Since this appears to be a retail seller, start there and maybe aim to end up in the mid-30s. I'd keep looking if you can't get them under $40k, unless you really love it.