juddz

Building up a "loaf" was one of my daydreams, so I bought the best one I could find (among the Matrix, Focus, etc) and ended up with the P5 as it is now. Here are a few of my other daydreams. All could be realistically done in my own driveway with hand tools. And, you don't need to be a millionaire to do any of them (though some of them would require you to be well off enough to drive a winter beater when the snow begins to fall):
1) Caddy Seville - Take a late model STS with the Northstar V8, no more three years old (cost: approx. $20,000 or less, depending on condition). Gotta be jet black. Remove any chrome trim for the exterior. Give it deep tint. Find a set of tuner type wheels, black or gunmetal, around 18" in diameter with wide, sticky rubber. Drop it about 1.5". Find out if Borla or some other aftermarket company makes a nice dual exhaust for it. Put on some bolt-ons to open up the engine and let it breathe a little better. These Caddies are fast as-is, and don't handle as bad as you might think. What I've got above is the beginnings of a badass contemporary muscle car that would slap the late and great 1996 Impala SS. It would even have the traction to get you through a Detroit winter, (with a set of snow tires).
2) Chevrolet S10 4.3L - Drop this one on sticky rubber and tasteful powdercoated wheels. No airbags or ground effects. Keep the drop conservative. Go through the engine, and replace stock parts with whatever is out there (cam, headers, intake, pulley kit, etc... I assume these bread-and-butter mods are available). Strip out the interior as much as possible, except for a pair of bucket seats and enough of a dash to hold the instruments. Do a full dual exhaust. Find a limited slip differential (there has to be one that would fit). It's gonna flex and handle poorly compared with a car (hell, its a truck) but it will have grip, should be fast, and would definitely be different. Fun on those big, wide Detroit buelevards.
3) Mitsubishi Starion - If you know what this is, you know how cool they are. Bolt on as many mods as you can find.
4) Datsun 510 - haven't you always wanted one? Me too. Done up like a SCCA car from the seventies, with the four-spoke mags and the chin spoiler on it.
5) Cheap Vette - Find a C3 with its smog-choked engine. Note that it is very easy to drop in another Chevrolet small block V8, especially into the pre-1981 C3 (as it did not have electronic engine controls until 81). Beginning in 1979, these cars went on a crash diet, dropping curb weight with more aluminum and fiberglass parts. And, by this time, the C3 was better built than any previous Vette. It would be totally possible to build a Vette that would spank most sixties Vettes, for a lot less money, and somehow end up with a better built and more comfortable ride in the process.
6) Dodge Dart "swinger" clone or Dart GT clone - Dirt cheap slant 6 darts are still widely available outside of the rust belt. All sorts of Mopar go-fast crate engines and goodies readily bolt up, and it would be possible to have a real, fast as hell muscle car for a fraction of the cost of a matching numbers car.
7) Autocross Miata - of course... speaks for itself.
8) Speedster replica - There are many good kits available for Porsche 356/ Speedster replicars. They use VW running gear and floor pans, just like the originals (the first six-cylinder Porsche didn't come around until the 911, in the 1960's). A Speedster replica can be authentic down to the smallest details (except the body is made of 'glass instead of steel). Since the numbers don't match, it's easy to take advantage of the cc and hp enhancing goodies widely available for VW's. Totally worthless as a commuter. Get that winter beater.

Roddimus Prime

if you are serious about building a fun little project car that is a good sleeper on a super-tight budget might I suggest any 2.3L 4cyl mustang with a 5spd/auto (depending on what you want... 5spd for SCCA and auto for drag).

I've built so many 2.3L turbo fords I couldn't count them all. They are a dime a dozen and super fast with only minor mods. Stock turbos are good for 20+psi and 300-ish whp on stock everything. For $3500 you could have a DEMON of a street car and a veryserious drag car. For about $4K you could have an un-touchable autocross car with 250-ish whp and every suspension goodie available to a fox body mustang.

p.s. these mustangs were available from 1974-1993 and just about any body style will work well. the 79-93 body has so many suspension upgrades for it that it's mind-numbing. Just think about it.

plus I'll be here to help!

MC

since i started lookin more into engines

i want to drop a CA18DET or SR20SET into my car hehe... with a gearbox off a SSS....

and also hehe soo soo many dreams of putting in a rotor into my baby... somefin i doubt will ever happen hehe

Jackelope

one of my 1st cars was an '88 'stang convertible 2.3L 5spd - had around 4" ground clearance to the frame (or... transmission would hit on speed bumps) - cornered like it was on rails... fun little car, even "out ran" some cops.... i was young and dumb... now i'm not so young..

and to get back on topic, i would go w/ #1 myself.

juddz

...you will see some four cylinder stangs posting good lap times at Waterford Hills racecourse, if you were to hang out there. One of the biggest advantages of the base car is the better weight distribution (less of it hanging out over the front end of the car).

Jackelope

I'll have to find the picture of my 'stang... cant remember what i did with it.