who is into "later" cars

Crackedback! I had no idea you had such a nice example.

As a teen I begged my Dad to trade his 75 Charger for a 79 300. 34 years later this came along and I bought it.Pretty much stock.The wife calls it the "White Whale".
Over the years I owned a 76 Aspen and a 80 Volare' wagon. Nice cars that I wish I still had.

I had a '79 Doba myself. Sweet car with a sweet ride. Had everything except the moon roof, tow package and 4bbl.

So you change the bolt pattern on the early ones..certainly no big deal.

In a way your right. Then again.... Paying more for an earlier model that requires (to a degree) a real axle & front drum swap or disc change upgrade is an expensive item(s) to do for what you get stock on a later model.

On my '71, I did the Dr. Diff real axles with bearing installed.
The front drums set up is next.
A hefty upgrade price over the cheaper models.