Future of the classic car hobby may be unstable per experts?

There is already some regulation going on in my area. I believe it is gas prices. It used to be that even 15 years ago there was still an occasional young adult running a Chevelle or Camaro as a daily driver. Not so much anymore. it can be because they are all off the road as restorations or show cars, but the gas mileage just isn't good. Today a young person cannot afford a car the needs constant maintenance and is a gas guzzler. I believe a young person still appreciates a cool car when they see one, but they view ownership of one as a "rich Mans" toy or an "Old rich mans" toy. My son thinks my 70 340 swinger is cool, but he isn't interested in working on it or maintaining it if he ever owns it. Its funny though because the inherent nature of hot rodding is still out there, you can see the youngsters that think their Civic CRX is hot stuff. I don't think these kids know how to work on the Hondas though, they are always dumping black smoke when I see them. The older cars were easier to mod and tune. Hard to say where the future lies in the years ahead. I do believe the gov. will try and make certain cars illegal. They are already looking to phase out v-8's if they cant comply with mileage restrictions. There really isn't an epidemic of old cars on the road though, so it isn't a problem where they need to make them illegal. And why couldn't a modern drivetrain be retrofitted? I believe California already does this where their old cars have anti smog motors in them. I think as long as the vehicle complies, it doesn't matter how old the body is.