Do you think about serial numbers when your getting rubber into 2nd or blasting down the 1/4 mile?

I was talking to a guy the other day that was looking at a website where they were selling a 1969 427, 4-speed Corvette for $65,000. He lamented that a 427 Corvette was his dream car, but he'd never be able to afford one. "Build one." I said "What do you mean?" he asked. I pointed out an ad in our local newspaper where some used-car lot was selling a pretty decent 1976 Corvette with a 350 and a 4-speed for $3995!!  "You can probably buy that 'Vette for $3,500 cash."  "For $5995 Scoggin-Dickey will sell you a brand-new 454 with 440 hp and 500 lbs of torque." "All you need is a carburator, distributor and headers." "Spend 3 or 4 hundred more on a big-block radiator and your all set."  "You'll have a Rat-Motored 'Vette that hauls ass for like 11 grand." "Put 427 valve covers on it if you want."  He says-"It wouldn't be original." Arrrrgggghhhh!!!  "It's also not $65,000 either." "You'd only have 1/6 of the money in it, and you'll have way more fun because you won't be afraid to drive it like you stole it." "If you wad up a '76 'Vette that you paid 3 grand for, who gives a shit?"  "If you blow the motor-GMPP gives you a 2 year 50,000 mile warranty." "If you blow it up after the warranty period ends-as long as a rod doesn't go through the block-you can put a crank in it or rods and pistons for a couple grand."  "I guarantee if you hit the lottery right now and bought that $65,000 one-you'd never drive it because you'd be afraid of it getting wrecked or putting too many miles on it." "If you did drive it, you'd drive it like a little old lady because you'd be deathly afraid of throwing a rod out the side of a -numbers-matching block." "Your probably right." he lamented. "I know I'm right." "So let's go look at it." We go look at it-and it was in good shape-it needed paint-but the interior was clean and it ran good. "Buddy-if  you don't buy it-I'm going to and put the ZZ4 out of my Olds in it, and put the 455 back in the Olds." "That's a screamin' deal."  "You can have your Rat-powered 'Vette for around 10 grand." At that moment the salesman comes over and says that a guy who looked at it the day before just walked in an laid down $3,600 cash, so it was sold.  "Damn" my pal says. "Hey, they'll be others." I say. "I see '70's small-block C3s for 5 grand all the time-especially the '75-79 models."  "I wish I was rich." he said ruefully. "So you could look at your $65,000 'Vette instead of driving it." I said-being sarcastic. "Yeah." he admitted. Unbelievable. I got the same crap from another acquaintance who wanted a '70's Trans-Am to play with. We looked at a website that had an unrestored but well-maintained 400, 4-speed, 1978 "Macho T/A"  for sale for $14,000. They also had a 1971 455HO model for $49,000. "I'd love to have that one." I asked the same questions-"You can't afford that one, and if you could you wouldn't drive it much and you certainly wouldn't drive it like Burt Reynolds in "Smokey and the Bandit." "You'd be too afraid of grenading the 455HO." "You can afford the "Macho"-"They said they offer financing, you've got good credit-you can put two or three grand down and get it." "You could put a 455 crank in it and some Edelbrock heads and have a real rocker that you could run hard."  "And if you grenade a 1978 400 big deal." "You can always find a generic 400 Pontiac for less than a couple grand." "Seems to me that "Macho" is deal of the century.' Then he lights on another one-a numbers matching 1973 SD455 model for $59,000. "Why are you looking at 50 or 60 thousand cars that you can't afford?"  "Just dreaming" he says. "You can afford the '78 and It's just as fast as the others-those "Machos" rocked back in the day." "Quit dreaming and start driving."  "It's not the same." he says. "Your an idiot." I say. "I know a guy that built a '55 Chevy just like the one in "American Graffiti" and "Two-lane Blacktop"-complete with tunnel-rammed, solid-lifter 454, a Muncie 4-speed and a tilt front end." "When he's powershifting at 6,800-7000 and ripping off 11 second 1/4s he has a big smile on his face." "He doesn't pout that it's not THE real movie car." "I know another guy that has a Charger done up like the "General Lee". "He loves driving that thing and all the attention it gets." "He doesn't care that it was never on the show, or that it's a 318 model that he stuffed a 440 in."  "Stop dreaming about stuff that you can never afford, and wouldn't play with anyway if you hit megabucks tomorrow."  "You don't understand."  He's right. I don't understand. My next project is going to be a clone of either a Motion Camaro or a Yenko Chevelle. I figure 10 grand will buy me a nice small-block 2dr '68-69 Malibu or '70-'73 Camaro body-another 5K to trick it out, and another 8k for the GMPP 454 crate motor and Richmond Super T10 4-speed, and I've got a fast, unique ride for under 25K. Which is about 1/6 what a "Real" Yenko or Motion car would cost. And when I'm smoking the tires all the way through 1st and 2nd gear, I WON'T be thinking-"Gee this would be much cooler if it was a "Real" Yenko and I'd paid the price of my house for it."  Get over yourselves, people. Mastermind