Rob, you have answered your own question.
Restore means to return to it's original condition and it's it's
original condition included such things as overspray due the methods
used at the factory. Not so much sloppiness or poor quality (for the
times) but in many cases the motor was painted after it was in the car.
Pretty hard not to get a little extra paint here and there.
Purists like them original or "restored" to original which includes the
overspray. Sounds a little crazy to some but ya gotta give due credit...
original IS original. Works for me!
Richard

You need to follow a bit of history to understand it all.

Prior to the '70s, the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) (I think,
not positive - anyway the guys who did Hershey) restored all sorts of
antique cars and did their best to represent how the cars were built
originally. Problem is that many of these cars were often extremely low
numbers total run (maybe 50) and often even more rare surviving cars (like
often one of two) so parts were often non-existent or were often not the
same from car to car. So while they strived to have the car like it was
built, they knew there were allowances for things no one knew were right or
wrong.

Corvettes, being far too modern, were not involved in that, although in the
'60s a group formed to preserve the '53-'57(?).  Several members broke off
from that and in 1974 formed National Corvette Restorers Society (NCRS). The
goal of both groups at the time was to preserve cars in an original
condition to avoid the problems AACA faced and the fact that many straight
axle Corvettes were deemed virtually worthless and were slowly being
eliminated in original or stock form.  They didn't get much support because
Corvettes were still too much of the American hot rod and groups like
National Council of Corvette Clubs (NCCC) flourished with autocrosses and
high speed events.  Look at early to mid '70s Hot Rod Magazine to see how
Corvettes were modified and customized.  At that point, a '63 was only 10
years old, old enough to be affordable by a lot of 20 to 30 year olds and
not old enough to be considered valuable by any serious collectible group.

By the end of the '70s, people realized Corvettes were going up in price,
and restored cars came into their own in the market. But many were like the
customized versions, only basically stock. In other words, bodies were block
sanded to perfection, paint was mirror-like ten miles deep, and many parts
that wore out were replaced with new and better parts.

But a funny thing happened. Corvettes that had survived unscathed had always
received more demand and more money, because they were not abused and
destroyed. And with Bloomington Gold growing outrageously, this became
confused with restored, as they looked virtually the same to most people.
This is when NCRS began to really take off.

Both require originality like the factory did it, but there are differences.
But to do it like the factory means duplicating an untouched car that
survived that heyday, and the goal is to duplicate the known factory
finished product, right down to the errors and flaws the factory produced.

Not everyone wants that.  Some just want a Corvette that looks like new, and
really don't care about the details to factory originality.  And some want
it to look new, and drive like new. This is where you see the old Corvettes
on C4, C5 and Paul Newman chassis.

Btu history has shown, that while customized cars often bring big bucks at
some times, restored cars has a greater consistency in price, and a much
longer staying power of the prices they reach. A custom Corvette may reach
up to $20,000 when a similar model stock or restored may only go $15,000,
but in the long run, that custom will usually drop back to a figure much
lower while the stock or restored car continues to climb. Examples are the
many custom Greenwood/Eckler style Corvettes of the mid to late '70s.

===============================
First  a $20,000 restoration IS darn cheap...   But I understand where
you are coming from and I tend to agree....

BUT

RESTORATION means RESTORATION...put back into original configuration
flaws and all...   IF you can really call overspray a flaw
...overspray  it is the  result of the method GM used to build the
car...

Just my 3 cents adjusted for inflation...  

Bob G

It is all in the eye of the beholder.  I like perfection and since I
never plan to sell mine I go for perfect and make changes like better
insulation and such.  But, there are those out there that like 100 point
cars and if you want to compete you have to have the overspray and
imperfections.