And we're still doing that today. I've said this before. Finding good hot rod material is kind of like searching for love. So much depends on what's available.
The majority of my hot rods - 7 of 'em - use inline sixes. I view them as a slap-in-your-V8-face of seemingly more traditional powerplants. Ironically, I was an engineer in the V8 Engineering Department, so I needed something different to challenge my hot rodding juices.