Scott
Geez--nobody accused you of being like Evan (who actually drives the he!! out of his car--truth be known).
Are there folks that would know of Shelby without the replicas? Most certainly. Again, many folks know about Briggs Cunningham and the first "modern" American independent assualt on European sports car racing. But that would be a much smaller number than it is now--and mostly from our generation.
Many (most?) of the CSX buyers are buying the dreams of their youth, but many are buying them because they are at once popular and yet still unique compared to other extreme cars--and generally less expensive than the exotica that come come close to its performance. Think what you will--the popularity still owes a great deal to the replica industry that kept the dream alive. At least I hope so--otherwise, we would have to tip our hats to the Shelby Chargers, et al. There are a lot of younger folks (comparatively speaking) buying CSXs and other mfgs that simply weren't old enough to remember the 60s.
Before jumping to Marketing 401, you might want to recall some basics from Marketing 101: A demand must exist in the first instance.