Sports-car guys and Motorcycle guys are smarter and more tolerant.....

There's always been a lot of heated debate in magazines and on websites including this one about "Restification" -i.e. Restoration / Modification of Musclecars. I've said many times I'm fine with something aftermarket if it's period correct. 14 or 15 inch American Racing Torq-Thrusts or Cragar S/S mags look great on a '65 GTO or a '68 Road Runner. 20 inch Center Lines-yuck. Ditto for mechanical mods-a '68 Mustang with a 600 Holley sitting on top of a "Torker 289" intake is just fine in my book. A '68 Mustang with a fuel-injected "5.0" out of a '92 model-not cool. Anyhow I've been doing research at sports-car shows and motorcycle shows and vintage racing events and I've found that sports-car enthusiasts and motorcycle enthusiasts are far more reasonable on this subject. Almost every single restored Datsun 240Z I see has dual or triple Weber carbs in place of those awful SUs they came with. The Webers make more power, get better gas mileage, and hold a tune much longer. Ditto for British sports cars. Practially every MGB, Triumph Spitfire, or Austin-Healey Sprite I see has a Weber carb(s) on it and a Vertex magneto or an aftermarket distributor. The reason is the Webers offer much more performance, reliability, and tunability than the SUs or Zenith-Strombergs that they came with. And anyone who's ever been around British cars-Lucas-the prince of darkness-is a running joke. Their distributors, and light switches, etc were AWFUL. Another running joke is the reason the British drink warm beer is because of Lucas refrigerators!!  The same with Motorcycle enthusiasts. Doesn't matter if it's a '47 Knucklehead or a 2017 Softail-you almost never see a Harley that's bone-stock. They've always got different exhausts, different wheels, different handlebars,air cleaners, seats, gas tanks,forks, whatever. And it's not just Harleys. The British bikes-Triumphs and BSAs-their ignitions were terrible. My dad had a BSA Victor 441 and a 650 Triumph Bonneville and it was always a crapshoot on whether or not they would start. Until he put Joe Hunt Magnetos on both of them and then they'd start every time! It's rare to see a running vintage British motorcycle today without a magneto!  And again-you see 500cc BSA thumpers and 650 Triumph engines in Rickman Matisse frames that look like dirt-track racers, you see them made into choppers-all the things guys did when they were just bikes-nothing special. Ditto for the Japanese bikes. I can't recall the last time I saw a '70's Kawasaki KZ1000 or GS750 Suzuki or CB750 Honda without a Kerker header on it!!  But the mods are always period correct. You don't see a 1970 240Z with the engine and 7-speed automatic out a 2011 370Z!!  You don't see a 1967 Jaguar XKE with the powertrain out of a 2005 XK8!!  You don't see a 1973 Kawasaki Z1 with the engine out of a ZX14 Ninja!!  And yes, you see some pristine, restored, bone-stock bikes and sports-cars at these shows as well, but their owners don't deride or make fun of the modified ones or say that they've "Butchered" or "Ruined" a classic. Unlike the stink-eyes you get at a musclecar show-n-shine if your '70 Chevelle has headers and a HEI distributor on it!  Anyhow-I think we should take a cue from the sports-car and motorcycle crowds and all stick together to protect our hobby from the EPA and the safety nazis and the smog nazis and all the other groups that want to crush any vehicle made before 1990!!  Mastermind