Agree odd ball discoveries, mistakes and other findings can be difficult to untangle and this is often leads to a choice that owners face as we've discussed it dozens of times here. Do I restore the car to how the company and plant should have built the car or the way I found it?
Think there is one thing missing though in this particular discussion, I don't think we've established that the car was unrestored when alanmac got the car, unless I missed it somewhere in the discussion. Way too many owners only refer back to "this is the way it was when I purchased the car in the 80's or 90's. Not IMHO a good solid point in the cars history to base a choice on most of the time. If the car was unrestored and if there are not marks or damage to the area around the unused attachment point then that would help
Of course with modifications often another owner will come up with the same solution or purchase the same replacement leading to findings that are unreliable as many of the examples of the cars I have pictures of show. Findings can work both ways