I am currently 16 and I dream of one day having a very powerful and impressive muscle car.  Though that will not happen for a while.  I am going to buy my own car soon when I get my license and I wondered if anyone had an idea of a good car that I could fix up for cheap.  I wanted to go with a 1985-1987 Buick Regal Grand National, but my dad says that you can hardly find one in a decent shape for cheap.  Can someone please help me????????

first of all what is your Budget. And do you mind doing your own work to keep the cost down. A car that I thouhgt I would want is a fox body mustang. They can be found for 3-5 grand.  They are pretty fast cars for stock and they have the potential for a real racer. instead of a grand national maybe an monte carlo. Go to car shows see what you really want  and price things out. what other kinds of cars you interested in.

There are some cheaper quasi-muscle cars.  More like performance oriented cars.

In no particular order:

Lincoln Mark VII LSC

Lincoln Mark VIII

Mercury Capri RS

Mercury Cougar XR7

Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe

Dodge Daytona turbo

Dodge Shelby Charger

Dodge Dakota Sport v8

94-96 Caprice police car

Third Generation 82-92 F-body v8 (z-28, IROC, Formula, T/A)

Thats what I can think of that could be relatively affordable and be reasonably sporty.

Tom

A budget would be helpful, but here are some basic ideas,

First, if you want something old (ie 60's) look for the odd ball stuff...typically cars like Rivieras, Toronados, lots of the bigger cars like Impala's (not SS's), Delta 88's, Grand Prix are cheap.  

Other possibilities are cars from the 80's (I personally don't like very many of the cars from the 70's, so I don't know much about them...so I'm not including them here).  Cars like the fox mustang as the other guy said are cheap and fast...thirdgen f cars are cheap and good platforms to build off of...though from your other posts its obvious you don't care much for Chevy motors...so thats going to put a hefty constraint on your options considering its probably the cheapest motor to build/upgrade.  That will also eliminate Monte Carlo SS's.  Bigger cars from the 80's are plentiful, but never came with anything desireable for a motor...however you could always swap in an older big block.  

Another option is to keep your eyes open for a more popular muscle car for cheap...I found a 68 Olds Cutlass under a grand...granted it didn't have a motor or interior...but five years later its done and worth every penny/year of work.

Anyways...good luck...check out ebay/hemmings/your local paper...you never know when there will be a deal.  Keep your mind open too...I wanted a 70 Chevelle SS and ended up with a 68 Olds Cutlass...I don't even want a 70 Chevelle anymore...let us know what you end up with.

id get a el camino because it is a muscle car and a truck. you can pick up a el camino for about 1000- 4000 for a el cam with a 350. the el camino has the same parts as a chevelle only different body.

you guys might hate me for this but what about a Ford Taurus  SHO. I know its front wheel drive. But for a first car it would be great specially if you get a 96'. thats the year i think ford put the v-8 in them. by all mean if yuo find a cool muscle car , them go get it.

That would probably be some pain in the ass torque steer.

The budget that I would have is roughly around $11,000.  I will go with a Chevy if they are the cheapest to fix up.  My 18 year old sister has a 1985 Camaro I-Roc Z28.  I don't like that but maybe an 85 Monte Carlo.  The other thing I am interested in is trucks.  My dad used to have a 1978 Dodge Ram Long Bed version.  He ripped out the stock motor and put in a 1969 440.  It was the fastest truck in the neighborhood.  He had to get rid of it because the truck was starting to rust.  But, get this, he didn't take the 440 out of it.  It's probably sitting in a boneyard all by its lonesome.  If he had kept the motor it would be in our basement where I could fix it up.  All I would have left would be to find a nice car to put it in. 

Work My Dad and I Can Do:

-engine

-exhaust

-gauges

-paint

Work My Dad and I Can't Do:

-transmissions

-body work

-interior

-and just about everything else

Trucks are also good Iam 18 and i found a 1979 F-150 already lifted and had 33s on it. boughtit for $500. not much was wrong with it. i just bought a 390 to replace the 300 I6. If you find a good deal more power to you.  

ok.... I"m not sure where you're located, but here in Kentucky, 11 grand would get you ALOT of nice rides. and I mean alot from the 60's, 70's, 80's ....etc etc. Just keep your eyes open and you'll find a good car. Try autotrader.com or collectorcartraderonline.com. I picked up a 79 TA with no motor or trans for 200 bucks. And the body and interior are in great shape.  

If you have 11 grand to spend on a car then you're fine...you can definitely get an old muscle car...the cars I listed were those that you could find nice for under 5 grand.  For that much you could buy any one of the cars I listed and put a 500HP motor in it.  11 grand will buy a ton, just go shopping...do some research...look at cars that interest you.  Just check everything out...if you can, go for a test drive (you'll probably have to have your dad there with you to do it).  Look on the sites I listed, and the local auto traders...you'll find something...shopping is half the fun.

Good luck

a G-Body...78+ malibu or 81+ olds cutlass...(imho,front end looks nicer..especially the later 84s with euro headlamps)

car:$700-3500

motor:383 shortblock from Wheeler.Eddy Etecs with a 250 shot.

REBUILD the th200r4 with ART CARR stuff and a lock up converter.

your choice of rear end..and mount the shocks vertical...cowl hood and batt in trunk...

sweet ride for under 10k if sourced right.later

NOSNERD

do a big block s-10 project. you got the money, and it will fly.  

For 11 grand, you can have pretty much the pick of the litter.  You can get a decent old muscle car, or buy something out of the '60s or 70's and do what you want with it.  I bought one of my best hobby cars off of E-bay for under $4000, and it is in real good shape body and interrior wise.  It's a '67 Cutlass Supreme and I did the engine, got a rebuilt souped up TH350  tranny,  doing the disc brakes and all the suspension work myself, and putting in a moiser 12 bolt.  There is no way I will have 11 grand into it with the new windshield, and the new paint - and it really doesn't need paint I'm just throwing that in.

If you don't want to work on it real hard, just shop around.  You got alot of slack on that 11 grand pricetag.  Don't be afraid of shopping around for Nevada and California cars.  They are usually nice and shipping, while a pain, can be fairly reasonable.  I just landed another car for my collection from California.  It's a '67 Catalina 2 dr hardtop that I had pre- inspected, and picked up for a measly $3000.  Shipping is going to be $600 and some change.   Not a muscle car by any means but a solid buy, and a nice replacement for the old Pontiac that was lost out of the collection a couple of years ago (got destroyed in a wreck). 

My advice - Have a good hunt and have fun.  What you find will probably be in the most unlikely place, and be exactly what you never thought of.  My first "MUSCLE CAR" I ever had was a 1967 Ford Thunderbird with "68 429 Thunderjet in it.  My Uncle gave me the engine and a good C-6 for helping him with his boat engine rebuild and install.   I rebuilt the engine myself with a fairly radical cam, aluminum intake, holly 750, it was balanced, moly chrome rings, and I was running about 10:1 forged  pistons in it.  Even the gas of the day had to have an octane boost, but the car was fast for what it was.  The car itself was a parts car that my best friends neighbor had sitting in his front yard.  I pulled that down for $150.00.  Presto - the first Bowser Mobile.  The engine saw it's way from that car into the '72 Torino Wagon where it was used until a few years ago.  The engine now sits in the hall of shame out at the main shop at my Dad's place.  It shall live again.

Heck - Look everywhere and at everything.  I have even seen neat cars at swap meets for really good prices and in really good shape.  I have found some of my cars on fly by night car dealerships on the fringes of town.  Some of those guys didn't even know what they had, and I ended up with great deals on basically sound cars.

All I can say is ENJOY.  The road ahead of you sounds like nothing but fun!  Bowser.

I have found many cars that I want.  I went to a local car cruise in my area.  Some cars that I found that I like include a 1969 Plymouth GTX, a 1974 Plymouth Duster, and an off the wall car that was there was a 1970's Volkswagon Beetle.  Guess what it had under the hood?  A small block chevy!!!!