Questions RE future of hobby

[LT1 Burb]

So after getting a quote for body and paint it left me wondering what is going to happen to our love of cars and the future price. My quote was for 7500.00 which I couldn't afford for one but thought was to high for another. So I decided to do it myself and went out and spent 1500- 2000.00 on all the tools and material , bondo, sand paper etc. and started to learn how to do it. I probably have 200+ hours in welding in floors and patch panels etc and I realized that 7500 was actually not very much money. I don't or won't work for free and can't expect a body guy to either. Where does that leave us, quality restorations will cost upwards of 10K and for good reason. A shop rate of 50.00 an hour and that is only 200 hours worth of work not including the 3K for materials. There will always be the Macco's or Earl Scheibs but I am talking good old American craftsmanship and jobs where people take pride and do it right. I think the problem is kids don't want to work anymore so we have lost the pre apprentice workers that used to do all the blocking and sanding. I think 2 things are going to happen, the prices of finished quality vehicles will go up or the industry will die. There is only so many guys that will take on painting and bodywork on there own stuff so where does that leave the everyone else. I bet my suburban now to repaint would be over 10K and it was rust free. Am I just out of touch because of where I live or is there a place in the country where I can drop of a truck and have it finished for 5K, I would like to know.