what you forget was that, in their day, the F-104 and the F-16 were cheap compared to the alternatives (eg F-15, F-4) - same as the Mirage 3 and the Mig-21 - a lot of better aircraft around which were operated by the high end airforces and the others were sold in very large numbers to the mid range airforces
The trouble is the F-35 is the most expensive aircraft currenlty on sale (no F-22's for sale at all) and whilst it may, one day, be better than some of the opposition there is a lot of competition for the ever decreasing defence dollar in many place