If you can't buy your dream car, then build it!

I saw an article in a Mopar Enthusiast magazine the other day that made me think-"Hey, everybody should do that!" The guy in the article always wanted a Challenger T/A. Since they were only offered for one year-1970-and few were built, the problem was finding one in any condition, at any price. He gave up searching, and bought a 318 powered 1970 Challenger. Through Year One, Mancini Racing, and other companies he bought a T/A style replacement hood, spoilers, and graphics package. He couldn't find a 340, but he bought a 375 hp 360 crate motor from Blueprint engines, and bought the Edelbrock 3-2bbl manifold, Holley carbs, throttle linkage, and air cleaner from Summit Racing. Summit also supplied the replacement Rally Wheels, and a local muffler shop made him the correct-style exhaust that exited in front of the rear wheels. Unless you check the serial numbers, you have no way of telling that it's not a "Real" Challenger T/A. And it's faster than an original one, too. They were only rated at 290 hp. This is not an isolated example. I did a little checking, and it would be easy to turn a 1965-68 Mustang fastback into a Shelby GT350 clone. Tony Branda and other companies offer the body pieces and reproduction interior parts, steering wheels, even the Shelby-style mags. Practically ever Mustang built in this era has a 289, or you could buy a 302 or 347 stroker crate engine from Ford racing. Want a 1969 Trans-Am? Good luck, as only 697 were built. However, Pontiac built over 100,000 Firebirds in 1969, and almost all of them have 350 or 400 V8s under the hood. If it's got a 400, your already ahead of the game. If not, the 350 can be hopped up pretty good, or a 400 or 455 is a bolt-in swap. If you want to build a Ram Air IV style engine, Edelbrock sells Aluminum RAIV heads, and the "Performer RPM" cam has the exact same lift and duration. The Performer RPM manifold is actually a little better than the factory aluminum RAIV intake, especially above 4000 rpm. Year One and Ames sell the hood, and spoilers, stripes, and Air extractors for the fenders. Summit has reproduction Rally II wheels. You could also buy the stuff to make a "Plain" GTO into a Judge, or a Malibu into an SS model, or a Camaro into a Z/28. And I'm not just talking cosmetics. You don't have to have a base Camaro with a junkyard 350 that's painted to look like a Z/28. GMPP sells 4 inch bore, 4-bolt main new blocks designed to use 283 style small-journal cranks, and you can buy the 3.00 inch stroke cranks. Summit, Dart, Trick Flow, and many other companies sell High-Performance Iron and Aluminum heads for small-block Chevys.  Crane sells exact replicas of the original solid-lifter cam in their Blueprint Musclecar series. GMPP still sells the intake manifold in iron or aluminum, or a Holley # 300-36 is also an exact replica. Summit has 3310 780 cfm Holleys. Moser sells brand-new 12-bolt Posi rear ends, and you can find M20 or M21 Muncie or BW T10 four-speeds through Summitt or many other places. You'd have a Z/28, with a "Real" solid-lifter 302 Chevy engine!! When you powershift to second at 6,500 rpm and lay about 30 feet of rubber, are you going to be thinking about serial numbers?  This may be the way to go for a lot of people. Mastermind