Well one always has one's limits. I've found over the years that any individual will find their own way. For many an expensive engine isn't in the cards. Or owning a 426 Hemi. Or a fresh paint job. So does that mean the "hobby [is] over"?
I spend very little on myself for this hobby. I do well for myself but previous poor choices (at least by my definition) and current family situations determine where the money and time go. So I spend as much time as I can and a lot of others' money to make their situation better and still enjoy these cars. Someday maybe I'll be on the other side of the transaction but for me, right now, this is it. It's not like it was in the 80s or early 90s when I had no debt, no house, a big shop, 3 cars that ran and drove, and accounts at speed and machine shops. Two nights a week were about street racing, and 3-4 track events a summer plus shows and cruises. "The hobby" certainly isn't "over" for me and I haven't had a running muscle car or even a 100% intact car for more than 5 years. My Demon's been in pieces since early in Clinton's first term...lol.
I can relate well to the person that has little. When it takes you 4 months to save $400 for "the toy" giving it over to get something means you only have one shot to spend it right. Spending another 4 months to get it right will always be better to me than spending it, being disappointed, and having to spend more after another 4 more months on a second roll of the dice, or potentially on what they should have gotten the first time... but it was too expensive. Fast Cheap Reliable - you can only have two.
