I concur. I think a lot of the appeal(V6 or V8) has to do with either wanting to replicate youthful association with more powerful american cars, or on the other end wanting to adapt more efficient/cleaner(?)state-of-the-art internal combustion technology. I think the B18/B20 is a wonderfully resilient, easily maintained, and modifieable engine, and with a an M41, quite economical. I'm just looking for something that's reliable, fun to drive, and easy to work on myself. This powertrain in either a PV or 122 is all I need.

A short story:
I live in NYC. I'm now 55. One night couple of years ago, I'm driving down a street in lower Manhattan in my red (matte finish if you know what I mean) 67 122. I pull up to a stop light to the right of a new SUV with 4 or 5 kids inside. I can feel the SUV's bass, but their windows are rolled up.
A kid in the passenger seat looks over and sees me and rolls down his window and jokingly asks, "Hey, man, is that your FIRST car?"
The light turned green and as I put it in first, I turned to the kid and said, "No, it's my second car" and drove off. Like you said, I'll still be driving this long after that SUV has become something else

Since 1976 when I put back together a 444 with B18 and Dtype OD, it's been that and this 122.