I too get a shiver when I see a clean one, hell, any 55 does it. dress it in black leather and call it a fetish if you will. My 55 was free and was my introduction to the 4x4 world. I wish I was nicer to it back in the day, because it really isn't very rusty, besides the drivers side fender. No rust in the rear panels at all, none in the roof channel, none in the floor board. But now between thinking I'm a professional rockcrawler on 31"'s and having a dirtbike slam into the side of me, I have much more dents than rust. The rockers are not repairable any more. My 40 will never replace the 55.
Now to the stock issue. I want a pretty stock pig that I can be nice to and spend more money on than it will ever be worth. My deviation from stock is a 1" body lift, 33"s, 4spd tranny, disc brakes, a clean fuel tank from a 1979, and reupholstered seats ($250 front and rear bench, with new padding, hell of a deal). Yesterday I went on a trail called the John Bull (if in so cal, you know what it is). I turned around part way because there were no other vehicles with me and my intoxicated wife and her brother don't spot too well. Now if it wasn't stock, I woulndn't have turned around (good thing I did, had bad carb problems soon after). It will not stay stock, no way, no how. I will not stop until 37"s fit under it. And this manual steering s*** on large boulders, talk about cardiovascular exercise.