Get The Best Non# Matching SS You Can
Thanks for serving our country!
Get the car with the options you and look you want. Don't pay for or sacrifice a numbers matching SS, but improve a slightly lesser non matching SS and make it work for you. My 64 SS doesn't have it's original hi-po 327, but it had and has a 4-speed, factory tach, PS, PB, and air. I'm putting in a killer A/V system and setting it up for freeway cruising. The absence of the factory engine means I can contemplate choosing between a LSX454 (with a little patience) or a GMPP 502, one or the other with a Tremec 6-speed behind it. I wouldn't feel I had those options starting with a numbers-matching car.
Besides, you can buy a nice SS today for less dollars than 2 or 3 yrs ago. You'll be into this car for years, so get what you really want, do what you want to do, and don't worry about what others think.
And, once again, thanks for serving our country.
Let me know what you end up getting.
EastBayBob