I have a chance to a buy a pretty nice 93 AWD Safari. No rust and interior is immaculate. Only thing is it is one that comes with factory running boards, side molding, and luggage rack. You may say that's a good thing but I really don't like how those things look on these vans. What I am wondering is how big of a pain in the *** is it to permanently remove those things? If I were to remove the luggage rack, running boards, and side molding would I be faced with dozens of holes in the body that I would then have to fill and paint? I assume there would be holes with the luggage rack but what about the other two? Are the running boards mounted to the frame or the body? Is the side molding glued on or would there be holes drilled under it too? I guess I am trying to gauge whether or not I should buy and remove these items or if I should just keep looking until I find a CS or base model van that doesn't have any of those features.
Thanks!