This thing has been hanging around local Craigslist for a while now and keeps drawing my eye. Not a V8 I guess, but that would be easy enough to fix, I assume.
This thing has been hanging around local Craigslist for a while now and keeps drawing my eye. Not a V8 I guess, but that would be easy enough to fix, I assume.
Man, there are so many possibilities here. One thing to keep in mind though: the later you go, the more stuff you WON'T have to do to the car. What do I mean by that? Well, let's look at two examples from my past (and current) stable: a 1964 Buick Skylark coupe, and a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am WS6.
The Buick was really cool, and I wish I still had it. It was a non-Chevelle A-body, and it had the look. Man, did it ever! But, it came with an anemic V6, a two-speed automatic, a weak pegleg rear end, and a single circuit "suicide cylinder" braking system with four wheel non-powered drum brakes. On my list of things to do were replacing ALL of that stuff, which required some engineering and some big time cash outlay/time investment.
The Trans Am, on the other hand, ALSO had the look. It came from the factory with a sorta-anemic V8, but had a stout 3-speed auto, a bulletproof limited slip rear end, and since mine was a WS6 model, it got powered, dual-circuit, 4 wheel disc brakes! That is stuff we take for granted today, but it was sorta exotic for a domestic, stick axle car in the 70's. I no longer had to worry about upgrading all that stuff on the Buick; the Trans Am came that way.
Now, most of the cars we are talking about can come with front discs at the very least, or can be easily modded to have them, but it was nice (for me) to pick a platform that had them available from day one. Of course, I'm going to be upgrading a lot of that stuff, and I would assume that anyone on GRM would as well, but it's cool that it came with it.
Another tip: if you aren't a master fabricator, and/or your last name isn't Nelson, you may want to skip the "dare to be different" stuff, especially if it's platform isn't shared with other more popular cars. Buying an off-brand, off-year car can be cool enough, and you can raid the parts bin of the more popular models for go-fast bits.
A few people mentioned trucks, and that should definitely be an option. The Big Three offered cool trucks from the 60's into the mid-80's with carbed engines, and muscle trucks are all the rage right now. I've had a severe itch for a short bed Dodge D100 or Ram D150 for a while now. They can still be had cheaper than the Ford/Chevy counterparts and can be just as cool, if not cooler.
Want an Elky?
I've got a '79 with a 355 roller cam Vortex engine I'll sell you. Even has a cap. 
In reply to curtis73: I did exact same thing to our 65 Mustang we just sold. All new brake system top to bottom, no change.
My next purchase will be a Boattail Riv. And I mean a REAL boattail, like 71-72 before they toned them down.
But have you seen the prices they bring? Jinkys. I passed on one in College because I didn't have the $2k. Now I can't seem to touch them for $15k.
In reply to curtis73:
I am there with you but would go for the 1965
what about some of the euro offerings? I bet a TR8 would fit your bill as well.
And I bet if you wanted to do a swap, a MB that can smoke the rears off of the line would blow a lot of minds, especially if still badged as a slow diesel
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