jan,

Don't get me wrong-- I like old bikes. There's nothing wrong with riding them as is, or hunting down vintage parts to fix them.

There's a fine art to upgrading old bikes, however. Putting a carbon fork on a lugged steel ride-- that's crap, of course. Fitting a bike with a new, modern wheelset, or new sealed bering headset, without ruining the basic character of the bike-- that's much harder.