I bought a crate engine SBC for my 72 C10 several years back. It came with a 350 SBC from the factory. That's one reason they are still made.
Automotive engine shops are sadly becoming scarce nowadays. A crate engine may end up being less hassle.
Yup, hot rodding and restomodding is dying. We (I'm in my early 40's) are the kids of the guys that would build the V8 T-buckets and put a built 350 in a wagon that came with a 283 2BBL or shoehorn a 534 BBF into a Pinto. Chome and highly polished acrylic enamel. Cruise Night, car shows. These guys are in their 70's and 80's now.
My generation was the Fox body and 3rd gen F-body rivalry. EEC-IV vs TPI. We generally liked fuel injection (hence my purposeful pursuit of an SEFI SBF when we were ski boat shopping). We grew up around carburetors but were young enough to embrace what replaced them rather than reject it. The LS1 entered the scene, and was becoming affordable and modable by the time most of us started having kids and other obligations got in the way. We also saw the rise of the imports and the fun competition that wrought. Megasquirt appeared, providing the opportunity for highly customizable fuel injection in pretty much any application if you were willing to spend the time and money. Holley later brought out their bolt-on EFI offerings, which were more affordable and easier to setup.
But, now even the tuner scene has all but disappeared here locally. The kids modding Civics all got old and had kids.
You'll see the odd fox (I have a friend who never got out, he's still building them and racing them), the odd 2nd or 3rd gen Camaro, most often for sale on Market Place by guys I used to hang out with, but on the road, it's mostly tarted up Hyundai/KIA cars being driven by east Indians and the odd Charger or Challenger. The newer Mustang/Camaro/Challenger scene isn't anything like it was for the 80's and 90's cars, I see far more Bro-dozers than those.
It's a sign of the times though. Look at parts stores now, going the same way as engine shops. Turning wrenches isn't the hobby it was when we were kids, I have three children, none of them have friends that tinker like my buddies and I did.
In many ways, there are parallels to home audio. It used to be a popular hobby with well-known brands producing quality gear and Joe Average could build a pretty awesome system. Now those brands either no longer exist or produce commodity garbage in China. The truly high quality stuff that IS available, the cost of entry for "affordable" starts with Bryston and McIntosh and goes up from there. Things get nutty when you get into more audiophile-oriented gear. I had a sweet multi-piece Pioneer combo with Cerwin Vega speakers when I was in my teens, my kids have portable bluetooth speakers.
And enjoy some of that fuel mileage.
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