What happened to badass cars with bad manners?

I once had the pleausre of riding in Scott Sullivan's famous "Cheese Whiz" '55 Chevy.  For those who don't know, this was a yellow/orange-Pro-Streeted 55 Chevy with a 800 hp 454 that was a Hot Rod magazine cover car back in the '80's. It was ungodly fast, and it sounded MEAN.  The old poem "Something wicked this way comes." Popped into my head everytime it was started. The forged pistons rattled, the solid lifters, clicked, and the earth shook.  Ditto for the famous 55 Chevy that was in both "Two-Lane Blacktop" and "American Graffiti".  This shoebox Chevy had a tilt front end, a 12.25:1 compression solid-lifter LS7 454 with a tunnel ram and two 660 Holleys. It was backed up by a 4-speed and had 4.88 gears. This was when Tri-five Chevys were badasses, the quintesential american hot rod. I remember the guy that owned the car said he raced it as well as showed it, and it had an 11.01 timeslip taped to the rear quarter window. He said as soon as he got better traction bars, he was sure he could run mid-10s. And this was all motor friends, no nitrous. One of the few street races I lost in my Judge was to a nasty silver 1967 Plymouth GTX. He had a pumped up 440 with a gear drive. It had that trademark whine, a choppy 2,000 rpm idle, and it was so loud, I don't know how he avoided tickets for just starting it. But god, was it fast. It would literally pull the front wheels on takeoff.  A buddy had a small-block 57 Vette that could rev to about 8,200 rpm. It had the "Off-Road" factory solid cam, which was way hotter than the "30-30" or the LT-1 cam. With 5.14 gears, he'd get such a holeshot that even healthy big-block cars couldn't catch him. Nowadays, no one would even dream of doing that to a 55 Chevy or a 57 Corvette, or a 67 GTX.  Everyone wants their musclecars bone-stock, or with a modern Fuel-injected Chevy LS motor or 5.7 / 6.1 Hemi or 4.6 / 5.4 Ford Mod motor. If I want a car that idles like my wifes Honda Accord and gets 20 mpg I'll buy a new 300 hp V6 Mustang or Camaro.  A musclecar should say with it's sound, yes, I am the meanest mofo in the valley!  I'm thinking of swapping the ZZ4 small-block out of my 442 into an late '80's Camaro or Firebird for a fun driver, and buying the 12:1 compression, solid-roller cammed, Dominator carbed, 720 hp 572 inch Rat from GMPP and putting it in the 442. That'll wake up the neighbors!  I might even get a personalized plate just to irritate Z06, and ZR1 Vette owners and everyone else. Were allowed 7 letters. KNG KONG.  Just a thought. Mastermind