I appreciate your honesty.

IMHO, the least-desired Smogun (the current release "full color" version) is the best colorway. I'd love to have the S7 release as an S7 fan, because orange vinyl looks good, and because I think the silver/orange scheme looks great on the sculpt, but to my eye the more easily obtained full color is the best, aesthetically. While it's cool, I agree that the plain silver is boring by comparison to any of the other colorways. This has nothing to do with its value to completists of course.

So, if someone wanted a custom Lowrider Smogun, would they have to chop a couple of the tires out of the middle section?

I like the suspended aluminum one for its own special reasons. Looks nice with other metallics, looks nice paired with the aluminum Dragamel. Couldn't say which is my favorite. They're all nice in different ways.

Liquid, fair enough.

I love the silver flake smogon the way it was too, but I just thought Koji could improve it and he did.

as to the question as to whether or not the silver was the best choice for this custom, I understand this concern and share it, but wanted to point out that the paints Koji used are clear paints that allow the silver flake to show through. it's really quite amazing! I don't believe the same effect could be had using metallic paints over the opaque orange version.