I think the II is a great airplane. In regards to breathing new life into a old airframe. The company I worked for had a 1966 Hawker 1A that they bought new and twenty-five years later put Garrett 731's on it. Super airplane, but the old airframe, old wiring, old avionics, old systems. Those are the things that made the airplane too expensive to operate. The selling price didn't come close to recovering the cost of conversion.
Dave