Your question did get me thinking though.....If I were to ever build a genuine "keeper" type of Hot Rod that I was actually going to be driving on a regular basis.....guess I would probably go with the stainless.

Most of my stuff is built to race or to sell, on the race stuff I use aluminum and on the stuff for sale then the economics of stainless kicks in.....and I use steel....

As with the planning stage of any build, I've got to keep in mind what the final outcome of the build is going to be....

I don't mean to sound like I'm bad mouthing the idea of stainless panels, I'm not, think it's a great idea in the right situation. Heck, I prefer 'moly over dom tubing for frame and cage work....we all know the economics of that but I let my obsession with light weight and high strength take over there....

Far from being any form of contest, I really like to see a thoughtful exchange of building ideas and possible materials going on here.... Tends to keep me from just sitting back and using the stuff I've always used and not considering other approaches and materials to use.....