For guys like us, typical daydreams revolve around high-performance iron, usually equipped with a thumpin' V-8 that puts lots of power down through the rear wheels. Mostly, it's muscle-era stuff like Chevelles, Chargers, and the like, but it might just as easily include a Tri-Five Chevy or a pre-war Ford. No matter how you slice it, we spend hours envisioning what we'd do to that car tucked away in the garage, or the one we saw on the way to work, or the one we let slip away years ago. The lucky ones get to follow this up by actually wrenching on the cars of their dreams, but many of us are facing a dilemma in the world of street machining: The cars we know and love are getting prohibitively expensive. Between the baby boomers and the Gen Xers that are starting to make serious bank, prices on the cars of the '60s and '70s are skyrocketing out of the grasp of the average workin' man.
But all is not lost. Those of us on meager budgets don't have to give up on the classics completely--we just have to look elsewhere for reasonably priced project fodder. You can still find good deals on proper iron without having to resort to wrong-wheel-drive with a gutter pipe and "noss." We've assembled a smattering of offerings, mostly from the '80s and early '90s, that offer exceptional potential at bargain prices. Since the automotive aftermarket is currently as strong as it ever has been, finding the hardware necessary to boost output to desired levels is rarely a problem. We've outlined our picks for budget street machine subjects and offered some advice on what to look for and what to do once you've taken title. Keep the faith and hit the classifieds.
Fox Mustang
We're starting here because it's the most obvious choice for what we consider late-model performance, even though the oldest injected 5.0s are now 18 years old. The Fox-platform-based 5.0L Mustangs were relatively cheap even when they were brand-new, and Ford cranked out countless thousands of them between '82 and '93, so terms like "rare" don't really apply to most models, even 20 years later. This means pricing is quite reasonable. Popularity keeps 5.0 models from dipping too low, but really clean examples can be found in the $5,000 range. Cars that are a little rough around the edges can be had for much less, sometimes dipping below $2,000. High mileage is almost a given for these cars at this point in time, but it isn't really a concern, provided the car in question was well maintained. It's not uncommon to see forged-piston 5.0 Mustangs ('85-'92) with well over 100,000 miles sporting blowers or nitrous kits on the original short-block with no problems. The drivetrains in the '86-'93 versions were really overbuilt, and have proven time and again that they can handle lots of abuse and power output levels that more than double the factory ratings. The possible exception to this is the T5 manual five-speed trans, but if you really need to harness lots of power during full-throttle powershifts, the Tremec gearbox is nearly a bolt-in upgrade. The list of aftermarket performance parts for these cars seems endless, and used 5.0 speed parts are traded more frequently than blue chip stocks on the Internet. Fox Mustangs are still plentiful and still one of the best bangs for the buck out there.
SN-95 Mustang
By the dawn of the '90s, the rampant popularity of the Fox Mustang had fueled Ford to design a suitable and somewhat more advanced replacement. The new-for-'94 Mustang, internally dubbed SN-95, still rode on a Fox-type platform, though it was modified beyond the earlier cars, and it still used pushrod 5.0L power. Close inspection of the SN-95 chassis reveals that many of the parts and pieces developed by the aftermarket to shore up the flimsy Fox chassis had been incorporated in the new car by the factory. Stuff like strut-tie bracing, engine-bay bracing, torque-box reinforcement, and other improvements make SN-95 cars far more rigid than their predecessors. Aftermarket support is as strong as it is for the earlier cars, and about the only disadvantage of the SN-95 is the extra couple hundred pounds. Other than that, the '94-'95 models have the same basic hardware as the Foxes, including the 5.0 engine, T5 transmission, and 8.8-inch rear axle, and though some specifications vary, it responds to the same tricks. The newer Mustangs have held their value well, but with an all-new Mustang set to debut soon, prices on the now-decade-old early SN-95s are coming down and dipping below the $5,000 price point.
All SN-95s use five-lug wheels, and all V-8 cars have four-wheel discs, eliminating the need to perform these standard Fox upgrades. There are many varieties of factory 17-inch wheels available, which can be had at very reasonable prices, and further brake upgrades are a snap, particularly if you use SVT Cobra stuff. Get yourself a set of rear gears, which are super cheap even when sourced directly from Ford Racing (about $160 a set), maybe a good shifter, and set of shorty headers and an after-cat exhaust, and you've got yourself a nice little high-13-second, dead reliable, 20-plus-mpg cruiser.
Third-Generation Camaro/Firebird
The General Motors F-body twins, and the Camaro in particular, maintained American icon status for decades following their instant-success introduction for the '67 model year. Through good times and bad (and much of it was bad), the Camaro and Firebird soldiered on, bringing youth-oriented style and at least some level of performance to the market even when Ford's pioneer ponycar became a glorified Pinto. Most enthusiasts agreed that the third generation F-car was long overdue when it debuted for the '82 model year. It was a clean sheet of paper design, save for the drivetrain, and a real departure from previous designs. Unfortunately, the version that appeared in '82 was clearly a compromised project, with weak 305 powerplants coupled to even weaker TH200 non-overdrive transmissions and 7.5-inch rear axles. The upside of course is that the third-gen F-cars steadily improved over the course of their run, taking great strides when the Tuned-Port Injection system hit the scene for '85. By the time third-gen production wrapped up in 1992, a long list of factory parts variations had developed, and interchangeability throughout the run was relatively easy. So today, you can mix and match parts from these cars along with the vast offerings from the aftermarket to create a slick performer for the street that can handle the strip, slalom, or road course, as third-gen F-cars have excelled at all of these forms of competition at one time or another. At this point in time, even 5.7L TPI models can be had in the neighborhood of $2,500 in fair condition; particularly clean examples run closer to $4,500 while beaters hover in the mid-teens. Older carbureted versions are usually much cheaper, though they too hold potential.