Not a dataplate restoration at all, almost entirely original I'd think. I totally agree, I think it's a fantastic undertaking.
European warbirds cross the Channel regularly and as Tay Cough points out, Berlin Express crossed the Atlantic safely last year, as did Miss Velma a few years earlier and Stephen Grey's P-51D back in 1980. In 1977 Tony Ostermeyer and a friend flew a P-51D both ways for a European holiday.