I understand what you're saying but the cars you mentioned are pretty much outta reach for the average person. Sadly enough, ( imho ) the last and best bang for the buck as far as late model cars goes was the 80's 5.0 mustang. They responded well to budget bolt ons. One thing that a lot of the mustang guys did was to find a explorer and use the upper / lower intake manifold, throttle body, injectors and cylinder heads, some were gt40 and gt40p heads. The gt40 heads were known for a 25 or so horsepower increase. Chrysler has been behind the performance world until they brought back the hemi.