Hotrodding.. the ultimate in Upcycling??

I've been hearing this term "upcycling" a lot lately.  Bre Pettis, the Threadbangers, Mr Jalopy and all the folks at Make Magazine and Etsy have made a real business out of taking other peoples cast- offs and creating goods and works of art of greater value than the original. 

it seems rather obvious now.. but isn't that what we hotrodders have been doing all along?  Consider my truck, the '46 Chevy, Laverne. 

Laverne started life right after the war. 62 years later I'm scrounging parts to get her back on the road.  Out went the old straight axle and the big 6 cylinder lump of an engine.  The new engine a 350 out of an old chevelle and the front end came out of (seriously) one of these:

The seat was from a minivan, the rear end a camaro.  It's really a cllection of parts that may have ended up on a recycling ship to China, but it's all going together to make a rather nice old hotrod truck.  After i'm done with this I'll get back to work on "Shirley" the early hemi powered 1929 Model A Ford.

It's all green.