It's a matter of common sense, that is getting more rare everyday.
Yes it is his car to do with what he wants to do. Is the move to separate a collectible classic rare car from the OEM engine smart? Probably not.
Is letting a collectible anything sit and decay until it has no value to anyone smart? Probably not, but it happens all the time.
"I'm gonna fix that car as soon as I get to it, and no, it's not for sale"......
In reality, the car is just going to sit and decay, and when he dies, the family will call a junkman, and it will get scrapped for the value of the weight of the metal at the time.............
So I guess in the grand scheme of things, putting any engine in the car, and driving it is the lesser of all the evils. It's not an ideal conclusion for the situation, but it's not the worst case scenario of the car ending up as a chinese made widget if it's scrapped.
