Mr. The Man:
Like yourself, I am a contrarian, and that could be why I was drawn to the Mle 1936. We may be more remote than most, for one is lucky to get $150 for a refurbished rifle, in these parts. And , may I ask, when has a collector ever "needed" just one?
I did not consider myself a collector until the 36 crept up on me. I was drawn to these rifles by their accuracy, and only later by their other virtues. The "beaters" are what I esteem, and since we have started to trot them out for our summer surplus shoots, many a K98k or Mosin has suddenly become too valuable for its owner to field. If, as you say, they are perceived as "Ugly", then what better 'ringer' is there to drag to the line. I am nothing to look at myself, old, gap-toothed, with one and one half eyes, and a crippled arm, but I, like the MAS, can still hold; it, better than I.
EDIT: However, both my inherent vanity and the rifle's accuracy aside, there is much to recommend this military shoulder arm to the collector. That they were overlooked gives them an almost Visuvian naivete. The disaster which befell Europe, and the conqueror's indifference, allows a view of this rifle's evolution through drawing and process changes. Most of these are so subtle as to go unnoticed, unless a collection is gathered. But, to recommend the single example, so few other martial firearms will tell one, at a glance, when they were accepted and how they served.