Hot Rod Power Tour 2024
Thanks! It's easier to build one like mine now than ever. I had to do a bunch of stuff a harder way. Now they sell EFI gas tanks vs my Aeromotive Phantom, easier to use Holley ECUs that are reasonable vs megasquirt, brake kits, steering boxes, wheels, closer "kits" for T56, I have a lot of info about the T56/EFI/A/C installs.
To be fair, there is broad range of skill levels and as hot rodding has advanced into the electronic age there are some that aren't comfortable or just plain don't want to move forward. It has gotten easier with some of the self tuning options available now, but before that people were stuck with systems that might have sucked either because of lack of skill or attention to detail during the install or issues with tuning.
Then there is the guy that doesn't want to hack up his floor pans to install an OD trans. And he hates wheels bigger than 15" and doesn't want to wear out his BFG's because they are stupid expensive. And no way will he clutter up his engine bay with an AC compressor.
That same guy will then buy a late model muscle car because it is comfortable and fun to drive and then have no problem taking it on Power Tour. It's a slippery slope.
And while it certainly has gotten easier, I'm not sure it is cheaper than just buying a late model car. Once you factor in the amount of labor to modernize an old car, it gets even more tempting to just buy something.
As an example, I have $12.4K in parts for my G3/T56 swap. This includes the purchase price of a '73 Duster to do the swap into, and a T56 Magnum kit. And that is with a really cheap 5.7 and most of the parts to swap it in. A rough guess puts me at $14,200 to build a G3/T56 car, and that is still without AC and doesn't include the work I need to do to bolt it all together. And no paint/body work and still a worn out interior.
Contrast that with the 2010 Challenger SRT8 6M for $20K that was a couple of hours away from me a month ago.
Now factor in an upgraded suspension, bigger front brakes and rear disks and new 17" or 18" wheels and tires. Pretty quickly, the above SRT8 is starting to look much cheaper, even if you ignore the labor to bolt the '73 together.
Shoot, I forgot about the rear axle with 3.55 or 3.73 gears.
Note that I don't own the SRT8 I saw, and I still have the '73 and am actively working towards the swap.
I'm not saying this is the cheapest way to do this, nor the smartest. Just where I decided to go and one example of how easy it might be to end up in the sea of late model cars on Power Tour.