Am I totally nuts or just a bit off?

Good mono recordings can be a very special audio treat.

Send Liz the turntable, as well. Cranking the old Victrola is getting her cranky. HA

I don't think you are nuts. I'm still amazed at the quality of some of the old recordings. Recently I was listening to some old Fred Astaire remasters in mono and the vocal presence was downright vivid. Some things to me sound better in mono. I don't know how they were recorded, but maybe they sounded better because they were recorded as a whole and not a sum of a bunch of parts. The structure of the whole performance seemed more right.

A number of years ago at a dealer with both new and used gear set up and playing in different rooms, I heard an old pops album played on a Garrard turntable through a Musical Fidelity A1 into some Epos speakers. I think the price tag on the whole damn setup was $1200. It was mono, with little detail, but the tonal structure of the whole performance was just terrific. What an epiphany that was that I sat there listening to that display for 20 minutes and didn't much care to move on the next room.

I was in Jeff Catalano's room a few shows back, and he pulled out an old mono recording and played it. It was one of those moments in my audiophile existence that definitely stands out.
When it was over, he casually mentioned that we were hearing it through his dedicated mono side.
A dedicated mono phono pre.
This, I told him, was true insanity. He responded with, "Hey; but I drive a Honda...".
I must admit, I understand his sensibilities.