to help give more ideas..
I spent $8000 for mine 9 yrs ago (convertible)...it was driveable...but had parts of interior missing, one front fender a different red color...a 400 engine w 9k on it , car was orig. a 350...hood had burnmark from a carb fire, cracked windshield, rusted header bars ,ripped top,rust in rear qtrs, gas guage didnt work, in the 4 bbl carb only 2 were working , oldmobile rims (3 were bent),several missing parts...car ran hot. now I have "fairly" nice car...total "investment", a little over $25k (incl purchase), and would hope to get around $20k + for it if sold , but i`m not selling it...