I was curious about this idea myself. Maybe an entry-fee venue with EMs could promote local interest to the point where people will be willing to part with $3K or more for a super-reliable, working piece of vintage americana. It doesn't seem to be there yet, but hopefully your Vector and barcade efforts will help it along. Gotta carve out a complementary mindset to compete with the white-glove, museum-piece thinking, which gets close to fetishizing IMO.