Where did all the cool cars go? Or are their owners sick of the way we treat tourists?

Hot August Nights is here again, and for the third or fourth year in a row I feel the same way. The big hotel-casinos all have their Show-n-Shines and other events. But it's dull. The GM section is all Camaros and Chevelles, with a few GTOs thrown in. No 409 Impalas, no 421 Catalinas, no 442s or Hurst / Olds, no Buick GSX's or Rivieras, no 427 'Vettes. A few '55-57 Chevys-but all those were "Just as it left the factory"-with hubcaps and big whitewalls and ugly colors like turqouise, and six-cylinder or 265/ 283 / Powerglide motivation. No badasses like the "Two-Lane Blacktop / American Graffiti" car. No "Gassers" with the front bumpers removed and radiused rear wheelwells, and a snarling 327 small-block with a 4-speed or a 396 or 427 Rat Motor.  Hell I'd even settle for seeing a nice small-block Nova or a "Bandit" Trans-Am! Nope. The Ford section is all Mustangs. Generic Mustangs. I've seen one Boss 302, no Boss 429s, no Shelby GT350s or 500s. No T-Birds, no Thunderbolt Fairlanes,no Torinos. I've seen a few '67-70 Cougars. No Cobras-real or replicars, no Mercury Cyclones or Marauders. At this rate I'd rejoice if I saw a Maverick "Grabber" or a 289 Falcon!!  Same for the Mopar camps. All '68-70 Chargers and Road Runners. I saw one Superbird. Very few Challengers and 'Cudas-and most of them 340 and 383 models. No Hemis or 440 Six-Packs, no Challenger T/A's or 'Cuda AARs. No Max Wedge cars, no Super Bees. No 50's Hemi 300s, no '58 Furys-( "Christine" ,and the cop car from "California Kid" were both '58 Furys ). No '70s Sport Furys. I'd jump for joy if I saw a 340 Duster. Not happening. Where have all the cool cars gone?  Sadly,I think it's the way the Reno City Management screws everyone during HAN. Last week any motel or Hotel-Casino in town would rent you a room for $29.95. Now they all want $150-300 per night. And I'm not talking a "honeymoon suite" at the Atlantis-this is Motel 6!!  The highway patrol had a bunch of cars out by Boomtown-which is 7 miles west of Reno just before the California state line-writing tickets left and right!!  Yeah that's a good way to greet people coming to town to spend money and have a good time-here have a $200 ticket-and if you don't want to pay it you have to come back a month from now to go to court and fight it. You have a nice day now. And the entertainment sucks. We used to get people like Jerry Lee Lewis and Bill Medley, and John Kay from Steppenwolf, John Fogerty, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, the Guess Who,Three Dog Night and the Beach Boys. You know-people that had hits on the radio in the '60's and '70's and that people actually want to see. No more-now it's all a bunch of people you never heard of and don't care about if you did. Now were lucky to get "Rain"-a group of local guys who impersonate the Beatles. And 1/16 mile drag races in a Casino parking lot? Really? The big-block cars spin the tires farther than that!! I could be grand champion in my Subaru-and it's not a WRX STI!! I mean who wants to see cars race for 330 feet??!!! What do they get up to? 35-40 mph? Puhleeze.  Used to they'd have real 1/4 mile drag races at the Old Stead airport. If that's not available Reno-Fernley Raceway-that's 29 miles from Reno has a for-real dragstrip as well as a circle-track. Why not use that?  Because the casino owners and managers are a bunch of cheap bastards, that want to soak the tourists for as much as possible, while spending as little as possible. So I answered my own question-if I had a $100,000+ Hemi 'Cuda or Boss 429 or L88 'Vette-I'm not going to drive or tow it to Reno to pay $250 a night to stay at a Days Inn and see shitty entertainment and and get a ticket every time I start the car. If I want to drink and gamble big bucks- I'll leave the car at home go to Vegas and see Celine Dion or Elton John or some other real star-and be treated like a king at the Bellagio or Mandalay Bay. Maybe if the city fathers would try to make it a fun thing like it used to be instead of just seeing a cash cow-the high-rollers will come back. If not, greed will kill another golden goose. Sad. Mastermind