More cars for "Project NASCAR"

In the last post I mentioned cars that would be a great base for a Nascar-themed street machine in the vein of Popular Hot Rodding's "Project Talledega" 1975 Chevelle Laguna. Here's some others that may not be the screamin' deals of the ones previously mentioned ( Parts availability is a huge factor ) but can still be bought and built far cheaper than a "Mainstream Musclecar"-i.e. SS Chevelle, Road Runner, GTO, etc.  #1 1969-76 Mercury Cyclone / Montego / Cougar. Any hardcore Nascar fan can tell you about the Wood Brother's Mercurys that had great success in '70's Nascar racing. The bodystyles would look mean with radiused or flared fenders,fat tires, and Nascar-style graphics. Since most of these had 351C's under the hood, they could back up the image without too much work. If you wanted to get really radical,351C's have the same bellhousing bolt pattern as the 429/460, so swapping in one of those would be relatively easy. # 2 1973-77 Olds Cutlass. The Cutlass was the best-selling car in America in the late '70's, so they should be easy to find. After his 74 Charger was outlawed, Richard Petty switched to GM and won several races in a Cutlass. Most will have 350 Olds motivation, and there is plenty of aftermarket parts available-Edelbrock Intakes, cams, headers, etc. Or-this is the great thing about GM cars-parts interchangeability-you could get Monte Carlo motor mounts and install any Chevy engine you wanted from a 350 to a fire-breathing 572 Rat. Any suspension or brake upgrades that fit a Chevelle or Monte Carlo also fit these cars. # 3 1973-79 GM X-body. This includes Chevy Novas, Pontiac Venturas, Olds Omegas, and Buick Apollos. These cars are cheap and plentiful, and a lot of suspension parts that fit the Camaro / Firebird interchange, so making them handle is easy. Ditto for factory or aftermarket brake upgrades. A lot of these cars had 305 or 350 Chevy engines from the factory, so that's no problem. Some of the Pontiacs did have 350 Pontiacs, which is fine, and also makes a 400 or 455 a bolt-in. Some Omegas may have 350 Olds engines. Forget the Buick V6 models unless the price is just nothing, and your planning an engine swap anyway. # 4 1974-76 AMC Matador. These rounded, fastback 2 drs actually had modest success in Nascar in the mid-'70's. Most had 360 or 401 cubes under the hood with the bulletproof Torqueflite behind them. If you need a replacement engine, the 360 was used in Jeep Grand Wagoneers until 1992. There's good aftermarket support-Edelbrock even makes aluminum heads for these engines. #5 1975-78 Plymouth Sport Fury. As Elwood Blues said-"It's got a cop motor, cop tires, cop shocks... Seriously, most of these had 360 cubes under the hood, but a fair number had 400s and 440s. I think the 2 drs are especially racy. And that engine bay will swallow anything Mopar ever made including a 528 inch crate Hemi.  Something to think about. Mastermind