And what's the average cost of any of those?

they really aren't that much more than compatible level gas cars.

according to car and driver EV cars are cheaper to own also. before someone jumps all over me, this includes depreciation costs also.

https://www.caranddriver.com/shopping-advice/a32494027/ev-vs-gas-cheaper-to-own/

copy pasted from linked article.

Mini: $0.0853 per mile/ $3,839

Mini Electric: $0.066 per mile/ $2,970

Hyundai Kona: $0.0909 per mile /$4,091

Hyundai Kona Electric: $0.066 per mile / $2,970


i would assume the big part of the difference is it isn't long term, 10+ years, ownership so all of the electronics in EV cars isn't considered much.
with that said gas cars have a lot of electronics in them also. i recently repaired a 2021 VW tiguan. i drove the car in the spray booth without a bumper ,headlights, hood and door. i triggered 45 trouble codes

the EV cars are cheaper probably because they don't need oil changes and things like that. from what i have read a lot of EV cars used for delivery purposes can easily drive 300,000 mile without any major problems other than brakes and tires.

now onto topic.
every decade is different so direct comparisons can be difficult.

when i was in high school, graduated in 1980, i had it made. you could easily buy cars for $50. most still had points so all they needed was a basic tune up, carb clean, to get to run right. buy a car $50, put $25 in it sell it the next weekend for $3-500. i had a friend his dad owned a service station so we had access to a tow truck. i think we bought and sold over 100 cars a year. we even sold cars to teachers in school. things were great until i made a killing on Chrysler stock after the bail out. i used my profits to buy a brand new 82 Chrysler imperial. my friends dad saw it and it pissed him off so we lost cheap access to a tow truck. it slowed us down a bit so we switched over to rebuilding car wrecks. we had a dealers license and specialized in buying and selling fox body mustangs.
honestly i think i made more $$$ in the 80's then i do now. things were great until i crashed my motorcycle at speed. it took me a long time to heal. others moved on. my friend has had multiple used cars lots over the years, and still does the same thing today. i work in a bodyshop so i really haven't changed much. just my focus on how make my $$.

YUP. Been watching people mock electric cars for ten years now constantly ragging on range, cost and reliability. All this while each passing year they get better and better. This is no different than what the imports did in the 90's to the domestic brands.

True. But what did the third kid do to end up stuck in a Fuckus?

Moving back to topic, what cars are even interesting to own over the last 3 decades? Nissan Skyline? Sure, if you can find one, good luck registering it. Supra? Always been in high demand and pricey. Eclipse? Good luck finding on that isn't a turd. If you do, plan on spending big bucks.

It's not just the lack of 60s vintage vehicles that keeps kids out of the hobby. Heck, even nice mid 70s Cutlasses are huge money. Priced out a decent mid 80s Buick? How about a GN?

Really, the only V8 rwd vehicles around on a budget are Crown Vics. And those aren't sexy.

You're defining the hobby too narrowly. The tuner crowd is what supplanted the old V8 RWD cars. The hobby itself never went anywhere.

It stands to reason though V8 cars seemed to fall out of favor - they weren't being produced anymore. Even the Camaro was gone for a number of years.

I don't think I'm defining the hobby too narrowly. I mentioned 3 different cool imports, not just vintage muscle. You can hot rod anything

I got the 2018 Focus because I did my homework. NON-Ecoboost and NON-CVT. $14,500 brand new. Paid extra $1000 for the larger alloy wheels and tires. Much less than Cruze, and I looked at Honda, Toyota and Nissan and you couldn't touch anything on the lot for less than $23K. It has 32K on the clock and has never been back to the dealer. I recently had my son help me change the oil and rotate the tires, he also has to keep it washed and interior clean. My son was lobbying for a Jeep Wrangler, but he is happy with the Focus and I told him when he gets his first legit job he can trade the Focus in for a $40K Jeep.

EV price to operate conveniently ignores battery pack replacement costs, which will more than make up for oil change and spark plug costs.

It also conveniently ignores the time spent waiting for it to charge. Maybe in town where you can plug it in at night and let it charge while you sleep it's ok, but taking a long distance drive will have you cooling your heels at some roadside money pit costing you even more money spent on trinkets you see while waiting. Not to mention the increase in your waist line caused by eating gas station food to kill time.

Comparing EV's to early IC cars is a strawman. the general tech level increase since then should have eliminated any teething issues commented upon. If you wanted a real comparison you should look at EV's back then, they had them, and compared that to the IC vehicles of the same era, same general tech level in play here. Guess who won? For pretty much the same reasons EV's are not the panacea today. So 100+ years of technological evolution still hasn't fixed EV's inherent issues. Range and recharge time. Range is increasing at the expense of more weight, not to mention the fire hazard with batteries. Yes, gasoline has it's fire issues but the tech to deal with that is developed.

Ease of use is of primary importance to the average consumer. If your "better idea" is more difficult to use it'll get a rep for being junk, regardless. And on that note Tesla's teething problems were largely self induced as it was primarily issues putting the cars together on an assembly line, something a myriad of industries have figured out successfully. Musk was too self involved to get outside help from experts to sort the issues out.