Is a carb and intake worth $5,000 or $10,000? Not in my book!!

I've touched on this issue before, but someone asked me about it again recently. An acquaintance wanted a '69-70 Mach 1 Mustang. He found a clean, rust-free 1969 model at a reasonable price. It had a 351W with a 2bbl carb and an FMX automatic. He said-dead serious-"It's a great deal on a solid car, but I'd really rather have a 4bbl version." My response- "Are you out of your mind?"  "Buy the car, go over to Summitt Racing and get an Edelbrock Perfromer manifold for $200 bucks, and a matching 600 cfm Performer carb with Ford throttle linkage for $359 and live happily ever after!" "Or be a dumbass, and instead of spending $600, spend another 5 grand on an "Original" factory 4bbl model!"  "When you put it that way it sounds stupid." He said "You think?"  I said.  However, I've seen it numerous times. A Mopar fanatic I know almost didn't buy a one-owner, low-mileage 1968 Charger in unrestored, but great condition because the engine was a 2bbl 383! Another idiot didn't buy an awesome 1972 Chevelle SS with a 2bbl 350, and paid more for a Malibu not as nice with a 4bbl on it!! Apparently this stupidity is rampant.  I did some research, and there are a lot of great cars that can be stolen because of their induction system. And a carb and intake is an easy swap that only costs about $600, and that's if your buying the carb and intake brand-new!! A lot of us have these laying around our garages or our friends do. Yet people are paying 3,4,5 or even 10 thousand dollars more for the same car because of a CARBURATOR??!!!  Keep the 2bbl setup in your garage in case you want to sell the car to someone really anal. Here's a list of cars that you can steal out from under dummies that avoid them.  # 1. 1971-73 Ford Mustang / Mercury Cougar. A lot of these have 351C's with 2V induction, that you can buy for a lot less than the 4V models. # 2. 1970-75 Pontiac Firebird Esprit / Formula. There are a lot of Firebird Esprit and Formula 350 models out there with 2bbl induction; and a good number of Esprit models had 400s with 2bbl induction. # 3. 1970-75 Chevy Monte Carlo. Quite a few were built with 350 2bbls in this vintage. # 4. 1968-74 Dodge Charger. While there are a lot of base-models with 318s out there, there are also quite a few with 383 and 400 big blocks with 2bbl induction. # 5. 1968-72 Buick Century and Olds Cutlass. 455 GS, GSX and 442 versions are rare and pricey, but there are millions of these cars with 2bbl 350 Buick and Olds motors under the hood. They make nice drivers, and a 4bbl swap really increases performance. Or you could use the thousands saved to build a stompin' 455.  Anyhow, for god's sake don't pass on a great car because of the carburator!!  Mastermind