I think you got it right Eric, on both counts.
One of the reasons I posted the question was the exact discussion was started on another forum and at one point it looked like people were getting upset and I thought it was going to go off the rails.
Just my opinion, projects like this look easier than they really are, and as a result, they get started and then abandoned - I HAVE seen cars & station wagons cut down into pickup trucks, and the only one that looked "finished" was a VW which had been done from a kit that included a fiberglass "cap" that formed the backwall of the cab. The remainder were functional but ugly.