If you're choosing not to pay much attention to originality etc., then it doesn't matter at all. Virtually all builders have to face losing 20-25% of the money they put into a completed car, not even counting their own labor. If you want to take the position that it's your damn car and you'll build it any way that suit you... I'll give you a snappy salute and an honest "power to ya!"
But in general, the further you get from original, the lower your resale value is going to go. We've all seen some beautifully, expensively-built cars go for a song because no one else wanted, say, the fluorescent orange car with a carbon-fiber interior, Porsche seats, a show-quality Chevy 327, Foose 22-inchers and NASCAR roll cage of YOUR dreams. A choice for something more original in each of these cases would be a choice for a higher return value... or more, a set of Trigos being cheaper than Chip Foose's latest hot design.
There's something to the argument that there are enough original replicas around already, and some variation has its place. Maybe someday it won't cost so much to go off the straight and narrow ladder frame. But I'd caution anyone against throwing some large multiple of $10k into a project car without thinking through how much they might want to eventually get back out of it. Cobras and their kin might be the one class of hobbyist car that has a potential to return all of a builder's money, with a little luck and foresight.