Yeah, but sometimes beauty is only skin deep. I had a HP, ring hammer, made in 1966; like new, complete with pouch and manual. This gun had the worst trigger pull of any gun I've ever tried; we estimated it to be around 14 pounds. The slide to frame fit was loose, as was the barrel to slide fit; those tiny sights were next to useless; and the safety was anything but, as it almost required a mallet to push it on and off. Add to this minute of country mile accuracy and it wasn't difficult to decide that this was a looker, not a shooter.
Then in '85, I saw an article on the new and improved HP, complete with a better trigger pull, high visibilty sights, wide ambi safety, and a matte finish that you really weren't going to worry about keeping it looking nice and pretty. Went out and picked one up and I've been back in the HP fan club ever since.