"..... Never was one to depend on the factory to build my toys so I guess it didn't really effect me....."

I was pretty much in the same boat as you Dave. I’d almost forgotten though I did have one stock one (for a while anyway) car in the late 70’s.

In 79 I got shipped down to Panama for a couple of year. I was authorized to ship a car down, but the catch was if I shipped it back to the states It had to be inspected when it came back and all the emissions crap had to be in place to include the catalytic convertor. I could have shipped the Pinto or Vega down but would never get them back in this country.

I picked up a 77 Mustang II Ghia with a factory 302, 4 speed and 8” rearend to ship down. Not a bad little car really...... once all the emissions crap was removed and a set of headers and 4 bbl was installed.