@arajani that's way too kind coming from someone who knows what these firewalls are supposed to look like. Thank you.
I've worked up a story to tell, though, depending on the context. I might tell someone I got the car in pieces (which is of course true) out of a pole barn in NW Connecticut (also true) and did a lot of aluminum and body work on it (again, very true) and that "when I got it the firewall was bulbed-out & twisted up all kinda impossible stupid ways and it took me dozens of hours to pound it mostly straight."
Obviously a very terrible lie, but in the right ear could be worth telling, just for the reaction.