Pre safety body designs had a lot more design flexibility.

Plus, there are designs where the internal combustion engine is not a goal, but the best tech available at the time - those designs can only be fully realized with technology that wasn't available when the original design came out.

Thinking of the Bizzarrini Manta, the Ferrari Modulo, the Maserati Boomerang, or the Citroen Karin.

Cars can be art. You dont have to justify it technologically.

And iterating on art is also art.