I actually liked it better in the 1990's- 2010 era, when they were still affordable to most enthusiasts.
That makes two of us. I've been a member here since that era (rather the tail end of it) and would regularly post on here looking for an SE clone and asking questions, and I got one in 2008 for 11k even though it was a disaster of a car. My '79 I have now is eons better.
I really do miss these cars being more of an entry level collector car. I have fond memories of listening to RUSH and surfing classifieds on formerly more relevant sites like Cars-On-Line in like 2007 or 2008, and regularly see nice non-SE drivers going for 9-10k, while show-worthy SE's were usually 25-30k or so. 2010+ is when they started gaining traction in the collector car market, and went through a few drastic spikes in between general upward trajectory (one spike in 2012/2013, one in 2019 when Burt died, and in 2021/2022).
The prices these cars see at auction are not reflective of rear world transactions. The most money to be saved is, was, and always will be private sale among enthusiasts. FB groups, forums, etc.