I paid 5k for our bird and am probably about 18 in it right now doing my own paint. I had done a couple of vehicles before this one but never as deep of a restoration as this one. 8k may be a little light but if you keep the existing drive train you can probably end up with a decent driver for that as long as you don't go crazy with paint. You will run into problems along the way but don't let them discourage you. This place is a wealth of knowledge and I would have never ended up with as nice of a car without the help of a bunch of these folks. As stated before it will take 3 - 4 times longer than you originally thought and for most of us I don't think they are ever really "done". Good luck. LOTS of pics