No PhilJ, age doesn't have much to do with it, I have just always liked moving in the slow lane. Two things about the roads here, they are narrow and the sides are entirely bush covered, like a green wall. So when you move along slowly, you hear a nice, deep throated thump, but if you move too fast, even just 40 mph, you get bush rush, and just see things sort of rushing by. No fun at all.
If I were to drive long distances in the U.S., I wouldn't mod up an R E, rather I'd buy something like a used Honda - Iike one called the Honda Pacific Coast - totally different than the R E , but it looks nice to me and is functional. There are very good looking used ones, routinely, on Ebay for about $4,000 with low mileage and mostly older owners, so they look to be straight.
The other thing is that because I like an unstructured life style, I have never had a regular job for any length of time, nor enough money to throw into speed equipment. I retired from working for others about age forty and never looked back. So I poke poke along, enjoying life immensely, but largely just making do. Gets to be a habit.
Like I say, if someone wants to add a bunch of mods to their R E, well good on them - me, I'd get something that would go fast from the get go.
All this modification business, besides being expensive, doesn't make much sense to me.