Last month, my good friend and I repeated our yearly tradition of screening the film "Le Mans." We usually do so during the weekend of the running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans as our schedules permit, and this year was fortuitous as we actually got to screen "Le Mans" on the weekend of the actual race.

Now other than being the pantheon of sports car and racing films, "Le Mans" was also the film that triggered my now 40-plus-year obsession with endurance sports car racing and all things Porsche prototype. My dad took me to see it when I was 10, and life hasn't been quite the same since. My library and poster collection are both testaments to this.

As middle-aged men tend to do, my friend and I also took advantage of our "Le Mans" screening as yet another opportunity for a then vs. now discussion of cars, racing, films, esthetics and a variety of other topics. Some of the conclusions included:

Then: Porsche 917s and other prototype racers of the '60s, '70s, and '80s were attractive, shapely, viscerally intense machines worthy of large expanses of poster art display space and in-depth adjective-ridden discussions of their beauty and comparative mechanical technical merits.

Now: Current hybrid prototype racers look like some type of Lego or Minecraft video game vehicle, requiring an electrical engineering Ph.D. to intelligently discuss the relative technical merits of their powertrain and chassis systems. Ugly with a capital U-G — no posters required or desired.

Then: The film "Le Mans" was and still is cool (how could it not be with Steve McQueen?). It's light on the dialogue, heavy on the engine noise, double doses of Porsches, and of course the Porsche team drivers wore what is inarguably the world's coolest racing jacket.

Now: The film "Rush" was a good film, but not what I would call a cool one. It has too much talking, light on the engine noises, and no racing Porsches or cool jackets. I own it, I enjoyed it, but it wasn't inspirational. That being said, I'm also not an easy emotional target like I was when I was a race car-crazy 10-year-old boy.

Then: Porsche marketed products like the 924 and later the 944 for the younger, entry-level driving enthusiast. Granted, the 924 got off to a shaky start, but the 944 was a solid product at a realistic price that could capture and create lifelong Porsche buyers who may have shopped elsewhere for their first real sports car. By shopping I mean like in an enthusiast magazine — remember, no Internet or thumbs-up website reviews.

Now: Porsche products have moved upmarket to keep pace with an older and/or more affluent demographic. The price of entry for a new Porsche sports car is 50K to 60K plus — a comfortable 20K beyond what other entry-level enthusiast sports cars such as a Subaru BRZ or BMW 228i cost. A Web search for "entry level" Porsche sports car invariably brings you to a blog or enthusiast site discussion of which 10-, 20- or 30-year-old Porsche you can afford and what to look for when buying one used.

Nostalgia aside, I still embrace the idea of adapt or die, and so does Porsche based on their sales volumes and profitability. Just look at what Porsche sells today, and you will find a large percentage of SUVs and sedans with Porsche performance and a Porsche badge. These vehicles appeal to an aspirational and affluent demographic who want the Porsche experience, but may not necessarily be hardcore sports car enthusiasts.

Put a bit more simply, a substantial portion of current Porsche buyers probably aren't looking for a dual-purpose daily driver/DE day sports car. Likewise, the sports car side offerings — while definitely enthusiast oriented — only offer a 50K-plus entry point, targeting a more affluent demographic.

A Porsche at the lowest rung on the serious sports car ladder, say 35K, just isn't an option unless you are buying one used. The 20-something or early 30-something enthusiast with 35K in disposable income for a new sports car will probably buy a hot rod WRX/STI with a factory warranty and go have a riot at someone else's track day.

My bottom line, nothing is like a Porsche — new or used. If you know someone who wants a new Porsche sports car but can't quite stretch to that 60K entry price, talk them through how easy it is to shop for a used one. Show them a copy of Panorama. Share your passion and enthusiasm. Show them how many options they really have.

Like the film "Le Mans," Porsches don't need to be new to be the best.