Project "Cheap Shot"...Or "Junkyard Dog" or whatever.....Let's try to get it going...

I'm sure you are as sick as I am of reading magazine articles about some guy's cool car that he has $50,000-$100,000 invested in. I'd like to serialize the build of an 11 or 12 second car for less than $10,000-including the purchase price of the car. Maybe I can get Hot Rod or Popular Hot Rodding to follow along with several articles as we go. It sounds like a tall order-but I think it could be done pretty easy. $3,000 will buy a decent, running 70's or '80s Camaro or Firebird,or a '78-87 GM "G" body-I'm thinking Malibu, Monte Carlo ( not an SS; too expensive ) or Pontiac Gran Prix-most of these had 305 Chevys in them which makes a 350 or a 383 a bolt-in. We could also do an '83-93 "5.0" Mustang or an '83-'88 T bird. That would leave 7k for the build up. If we went the GM route-I followed an article that Super Chevy did a while back-they built a 400 hp 350 for $2,600 using all-new parts. They bought a generic 350 short-block from Autozone or Pep Boys or Napa for $599. They bought a set of 64cc Vortec Heads from Scoggin-Dickey for $650. $200 for a Vortec bolt pattern Edelbrock Performer RPM manifold, $350 for a 750cfm Edelbrock carb,$200 for a Crane Cam $199 for an HEI distributor and $200 for Heddman Headers. For $2,600 it dyno'd at like 396 hp and 410 lbs ft of torque. At this point we'd have $5,600 in the car. That would still leave $4,400 for gears, a high-stall converter, tires and wheels, suspension or brake upgrades and bodywork and paint. Ditto if we did a "5.0" Mustang or T-bird. We could freshen up the bottom end with rings and bearings and an oil pump. Holley and Trick Flow-offer top end kits for the 302 that include heads, cam kit and intake manifold that makes 375 hp and cost about $2,500. With some 3.73 gears and some drag radials that would easily put a "5.0" Mustang in the 12s. A shot of nitrous could easily get us in the 11s. I think it would a fun way to show that you can go really fast and have a cool ride without having to spend 30 or 40 grand. I suggested the late-model GM "F" and "G" bodies and the Fox Mustang because there's more cheap speed equipment out there for these cars than anything else on the planet. Anybody could duplicate what were doing. But It could also be done with a '71-77 Pontiac Ventura with a 400 V8. Or a 71-77 Ford Maverick with a 302 or a '70-76 Duster / Dart with a 318 / 360. There's a variety of combinations that could work in those parameters and dollar amounts.  I'd love to hear anyone elses Ideas on this one if they think it would fly. Mastermind