Firstly ... Hey Jim sweet image.
Responding to the rest of the post. Generally, I find that better equipment makes it easier to get the exceptional photo ... whether that be 20 years ago or yesterday. I also find that newer/better equipment can duplicate old equipment ... but often old equipment cannot duplicate new equipment.
Finally, I completely disagree with your generalization that a photo taken 20 years ago cannot equal a photo using present equipment. In fact I'll take that one step further I'll go back 30 years ago ...
A somewhat random sampling.
Gary