People who modify and destroy factory originality should be taken out and horsewhipped. I don't know how many times I've had to undo some knucklehead's destruction and put it back to factory. I went to great lengths to put my 68 Camaro Convertible back to showroom. ANYBODY can cut holes in the floorboard to install Hurst shifters, and all sorts of destruction like that. Everything has the right to exist the way the factory made it.
Hurst shifters were used because they were better than stock shifters for performance. Sometimes modifications make sense. Not every car at a car show must be stock. Otherwise there would be no Customs and no Rods. Clean, period-correct modifications are especially valued- Hurst shifters, Cragars, Airheart brakes, Holley carbs, all a testament to a time, type of machine and level of technology.
I try to always make modifications reversible, or at least make them so that they are clean, well thought out, and compatible with the original design, including mundane things like using metric on metric machines and inch size on inch size machines. I strive to use standard parts, so someone later can easily source replacement parts if needed.
I do detest bad modifications, or those done because someone did not want to go to the trouble of fixing something right. I have had to undo, then redo, more than a few of those.
But intelligent modifications can make a machine work better, perform better, be more reliable, etc. My Honda motorcycle has several clean modifications done to it to overcome weaknesses in the design, including frame gussets and elimination of the regulator/rectifier connector, which would heat up and fail, a chronic problem on many 80's Hondas. With that one, I soldered the wires together, then zip-tied them to the frame so the wires would not fatigue at the solder joint. The frame acts as a heat sink, as those wires always run warm. So it's not just the mod, but the mod done right. I put a relay in the horn circuit, which, no kidding, had been running full juice through the switch, causing a damaged switch when a horn shorted. And of course, I put on a decent seat. My bike won't do well at a concours, but it's a better bike than it was when it was in showroom condition.
I filed the plastic tip on the wind lever of my first 35mm SLR back in 1974 because it had a bit of a sharp edge, and it was much more comfortable afterward. It was a nearly invisible mod, though my camera wasn't destined to remain pristine, anyway. I've done that on others, too, even on my Nikon F3, followed with a little polish to make it indiscernible by eye.
In my later profession as a golf course superintendent I modified many of my turf machines, mainly the large mowers, to correct deficiencies in design. Those included such things as a mowing unit support riding on the threads of a grade 5 bolt, which was rectified by drilling out the damaged support, installing bushings and grease nipples, and having the shank of a bolt riding in the bushing, instead of threads. A solid fix for a bonehead design from Toro, with easily replaced wear parts. And welding reinforcing plates on a frame of a mower by Jacobsen, another top name in the business, because they always cracked sooner or later. Then there was the Jacobsen triplex greens mower that destroyed its wiring when the seat safety switch shorted, because there was no fuse or fusible link all the way from the battery to the control panel. The wire that overheated damaged all the wires in the harness. I got a brand new harness and before even installing it, I cut it just after the battery connection and installed a fuse holder and main fuse, and fused the seat switch separately, too.
I'm not even going to get started on some of the John Deere turf equipment, great as their large equipment is. Deere undercuts Toro and Jacobsen on price, and it shows.
I'm amazed at some of the failings commercial products can have at times, when a little more thought or creativity at the design/engineering level (or a thorough lashing of bean counters) would have produced a better product. I'm doubly amazed when glaring failings are not corrected during the life of a product. I mean, I would rather Nikon had removed the F3's lousy meter light switch and abandoned the usually non-working or intermittent meter illuminator, than not correct that insult to an otherwise top quality camera.