If it is what someone wants why is it wrong??? It is still the same sewing machine as it was when it was black or whatever color it was...maybe rust by the time this person got it. Several well respected collectors clean up old machines and professionally paint them with auto paint. So what. Not many of the ones we have are really RARE anyway, they are just old. And LOTS of people are throwing them out because they are old. Other people think they have a gold mine because it is "antique"...they are each only worth whatever we are willing to pay for them.
I have a black 301 that the stickers are almost all gone. I love that machine dearly! I have a tan 301 that I really just dont bond with...I'm thinking of getting it custom painted in a sparkly red! Why not...it will still sew the same and then maybe I will feel like it was meant to be mine :)
Everyone is certainly entitled to opinions but wow, lighten up a little and open your mind to the idea that the machine might have ended up in the dump if not refurbished and painted!