Is it possible that all the affordable project cars are now taken?

Look at it this way - the cars are 50-60 years old. They still have a very strong following despite the doomsday "I can't afford car parts but have premium cable tv" crowd.

I think a lot of the price points are driven by TV/internet content and big $$$ collectors that are out there every day with teams of people scooping up entire collections. On one hand you have a lot of hype and the other you have big money collectors buying everything they can to ensure they set the prices. A lot of us are blue collar folks with automotive dreams. It is easy to forget that we are in competition with an entire faction of buyers that see our passion as nothing more than a commodity.

To paint the picture...say I show up at an old shut down salvage yard to look at a bunch of cars for sale. I drive up in my old 12v w250 pulling my open car trailer. Shortly afterwards a well known collector shows up with two semi tractor car haulers and about 8 of his guys roll up in new 4-door 4500 or 5500 Dodge rollback wreckers, all black. Suddenly the 10k I have to spend is looking very insignificant lol.

My point in all of that is to help remind us thst we are, as hobbyists, very small fish in what has become an ocean of hungry sharks looking for their next meal (flip).