Has a lot of old school hot rodding been lost?

It might not be as prevalent a hobby now as it was in decades past but it's definitely not dead. There will always be creative gearheads who like to build things on a tight budget that are unique and fun. I'm 31, most of my car buddies are more into imports but they all appreciate old-school hot rods and we always talk about engine swaps and doing oddball stuff to make our stuff faster and more interesting. One friend has a late-2000s Mazda Miata (NC), he wanted more power but without swapping to a totally different engine or using a power adder so he swapped in a 2.5L Ford Duratec 4-banger he pulled from a junkyard car and partially rebuilt with upgraded cams, intake, headers, custom tune. That specific engine wasn't available in the NC Miata but Ford and Mazda share a lot of drivetrain stuff and it was a pretty direct bolt-in from the stock engine. I've gone for a ride in it, gotta say it sounds pretty strong and nasty for a 4-cylinder.

Another friend has an early-2000s Toyota Tacoma, those trucks have never been available with a V8 but he crammed in a Toyota 2UZ 4.7L V8 and is just now wrapping up swapping a Ford 8.8" rear end into it with limited slip and 3.73 gears and is thinking about supercharging it.