No problem modifying it - there is plenty of material to cut into 
Whether it is worth the efforts is another matter. A vintage long lens from early '60s is likely to have massive amounts of chromatic aberration besides quite low contrast and poor resolving power.
The hilarious aspect is seeing such a monster dreadnought (32 kg) swaying atop a geared-head tripod with the centre column extended ...
I think that tripod is a Samson Quickset tripod, which, while low in sophistication, is big, maybe bigger than it looks, and in some configurations at least quite sturdy. It looks as if the head shown is the very basic pan tilt one, which is not geared, but bolted.
I actually have one of these, minus the head, but with some added column accessories left over from some video use, I think. It's very big and very stable, with large diameter braced legs, and also very inconvenient. I use mine with a custom made adapter in place of the head, for a surveying transit, which works nicely and is less finicky to set up than the usual surveying tripods. I got it at a high school's annual tag sale, for five bucks, by the way. I'm not recommending it for ordinary photographic use, but it might not be as bad a choice as it looks at first.
