Ugly engine peeve

[Lona]

A pet peeve. Before buying our '31 roadster last year, I looked at 100 or so photos of A's for sale and still enjoy looking. So many of these cars have beautiful exteriors and interiors which obviously required a lot of time and money to restore. However, many had engines looking like they were never touched....rust all over them, wires hanging, faded paint and just plain unkept in general. Also, many of the photos of these beautiful cars had no pics of the engine compartments at all, which is telling in itself.
Why do people spend so much attention to the exterior and not seem to care about the heart of the machine? It doesn't take much time, money or expertise to get an engine looking pretty.
Perhaps the photos I looked at were from non A owners or dealers with little pride in their cars, just wanting them to look nice for sale.
Aside from owners of survivor cars or restos in progress, do Ford Barn A guys and gals generally keep their engines looking nice or are under hood cosmetics not a concern to most? Am I being overly picky in liking a nice looking engine and not caring as much about the exterior?

Thanks for listening to my ranting...........Glen