Besides Thomas Blug, the other person who has retired his '60s Fender Strat is British bluester, Matt Schofield. That guitar is virtually a fortune - estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands- which was lost briefly in transit- that's how much respect & understanding the airport has for your gear.
The deserving replacement is a custom made Strat-style guitar, made by Simon Law; the SVL '61 Daytona (referring to the finish, in conjunction with a certain sports car, of course). The fact that a custom replacement was conceived meant the '60s Strat possesses an irreplaceable magic, not one which could be replaced by the current generation of Stratocasters.
