Sorry to disparage your car... But Puhleeeze!!!

Talked to someone the other day who was aghast at me driving my 442. "You drive that car?" "Yeah." That's why I bought it, because I wanted to drive it." "If I wanted one to look at, I'd buy the Franklin Mint model."  Another said in the same sentence that he didn't care that his wife had plowed their $60,000 Escalade into a fence during the last snowstorm, but "Didn't Dare" drive his 340 Duster to work even on nice,sunny days because it was "Too Valuable" to risk someone running into it. Excuse me? Did you ever in this lifetime think that you'd hear the words "Duster" and "Too Valuable" in the same sentence? Hemi 'Cuda yes. 340 Duster, no. Another guy I know who likes Firebirds was aghast when I suggested he paint his 79 403 Olds powered Trans-Am Like a "Macho T/A" since Phoenix Grapghics now carries the stencils. "But that would ruin the value!" he wailed. Really? How much "Value" does a 32 year old Pontiac that came factory equipped with an Olds engine have anyway? And if he wanted to sell it to someone, how much money would he "lose" by painting it a non-original color? There were 117,000 T/A's made in 1979 and only 10,000 had 400 Pontiacs with 4-speeds. The other 100,000 plus were 403/Automatics. Not like changing the color on one of the 374 1971 Judges,eh?  I wouldn't drive a 69 Boss 429 much either. But a 351W powered 69 Mustang fastback of which 70,000 plus were made? I'd drive the crap out it. Maybe put the numbers-matching motor in my garage and install a 450 hp Ford Racing 392 or 427 inch 351W-based stroker to make it a badass sleeper. See what I'm saying? A 1968 427 Yenko Chevelle is worth major bucks. A 307, powerglide, drum-braked taxicab interiored Malibu is not. A 69 Hurst/Olds is worth a ton. A generic, two-door Cutlass or F85 isn't. I've said it before and I'll say it again, play with base models all you want. Their great if your on a tight budget. But a 69 350 Tempest is never going to be worth 69 GTO or Judge money, all other things being equal. And the same for some "rare" options-two-speed automatics, three-speed sticks, column-shifted bucket seat cars, radio or heater-delete models and two-barrel step-down engines aren't collectible their just weird, and no one but the guy trying to sell it thinks it's cool or worth anything. Your two-seat 390/4-speed 1970 AMX? Way cool, and valuable. Your 304 automatic 1973 Hornet? Uh-uh. Mastermind