45-50 years ago when people bought the cars we now revere as brand new cars, i suspect most people bought them as nice new distinctive modes of transportation. They were all over the place much like modern muscle is now.
Did they? Seems to me like a ton of kids back in the day bought the “modern” muscle of the time to modify, go racing and to take to cruise ins. Kinda like what a lot of modern modern muscle owners are doing with them.