Quote: Don't know about any of this non-sense......
There are alot of references to "the hobby" in this thread.
Seems to me that "hobby" and "buisness" and "value/greed" are all conflicting interests
I feel sorry for any of you who weren't around 30 years ago and involved with mopars. Those were by far the best times for "the hobby".
Either you had a numbers car with or without papers or you didn't. There was no reproduction yet, you either found nos at a show or you fixed what you had or you did without.
Best of all, there were NO pro vendors, just people showing what they had and selling there spares/extras.
There weren't any trailers either, everyone drove to and from..... ahhh the good ole' days!
100% with you Steve, the last decade or so has seen the "hobby" turn into big business, big $$$, for cars, parts, services, etc,......I've been into Mopars for over 30 years, with the main focus being just the pure enjoyment of driving them, I've also have/had many business ventures in racing, restoring, reproduction, etc, associated with Mopars for over 30 years,...but I do miss the "ole days" when the only thing that mattered was what was under the hood, sure there were those who modified, and those who "restored" Mopars, but for the majority back then, buildsheets were just trash found in the car, fender tags were often tossed, as they distracted from the "clean-up" you did underhood to rid yourself of anything not needed, and when you wrecked a car, you went and got another, and in "most" cases you just rebodied the donor with what survived, including the VIN,....it was already registered with the DMV,....and nobody really cared, most didn't worry about matching numbers this or that, biggest concern was finding another engine, or tranny, or rearend, etc....the Mopar world was much more "relaxed" back then,.....your biggest problem was trying to explain to your chevy/ford friends why Mopars were truly unique,....today everyone seems more concerned with what "value"($$$$$$$) they're going to reap flipping a car, based on what paperwork follows it, or what numbers match what, or how many were built, or how much it's going to cost to restore, because they don't want to spend more than what they can flip the car for later ....back in the day we couldn't pour enough money into our cars, we didn't care about "collector" values, we cared about going fast, and looking good doing it.....but it seems the Mopar crowd has become a "Vette" type crowd,one they once ridiculed for their concern about numbers, datecodes, tank sheets, tags, paint daubs, etc.....the Mopar "hobby" has been established a plateau,....unfortunately it seems to be following the "Vette" program
100% with you Steve, the last decade or so has seen the "hobby" turn into big business, big $$$, for cars, parts, services, etc,......I've been into Mopars for over 30 years, with the main focus being just the pure enjoyment of driving them, I've also have/had many business ventures in racing, restoring, reproduction, etc, associated with Mopars for over 30 years,...but I do miss the "ole days" when the only thing that mattered was what was under the hood, sure there were those who modified, and those who "restored" Mopars, but for the majority back then, buildsheets were just trash found in the car, fender tags were often tossed, as they distracted from the "clean-up" you did underhood to rid yourself of anything not needed, and when you wrecked a car, you went and got another, and in "most" cases you just rebodied the donor with what survived, including the VIN,....it was already registered with the DMV,....and nobody really cared, most didn't worry about matching numbers this or that, biggest concern was finding another engine, or tranny, or rearend, etc....the Mopar world was much more "relaxed" back then,.....your biggest problem was trying to explain to your chevy/ford friends why Mopars were truly unique,....today everyone seems more concerned with what "value"($$$$$$$) they're going to reap flipping a car, based on what paperwork follows it, or what numbers match what, or how many were built, or how much it's going to cost to restore, because they don't want to spend more than what they can flip the car for later 
....back in the day we couldn't pour enough money into our cars, we didn't care about "collector" values, we cared about going fast, and looking good doing it.....but it seems the Mopar crowd has become a "Vette" type crowd,one they once ridiculed for their concern about numbers, datecodes, tank sheets, tags, paint daubs, etc.....the Mopar "hobby" has been established a plateau,....unfortunately it seems to be following the "Vette" program 