Mustang 5.0 with a nice custom paint 2tone paint, simple rebuild, bolt on parts and some suspension and brake upgrades. Budget 10k

That's an awfully tall order, Wes.

Some great suggestions, and a pretty tall order indeed!

Kelle's truck was a budget build.  Wasn't it?

I'm thinking of something that starts with a pretty solid body as body work can really blow up a budget.  Cap your budget @ $12,000 including the cost of the car.  Focus your budget on drivetrain and suspension upgrades.  I'm pretty partial the GM A body cars.  I know they've been done a lot and V8TV has done their share of them, as well.  But I think it would be cool to show how your average equipped guy at home can do a decent build by making the most of his/her abilities.  Also, being a budget build, I think it's important to show how existing factory parts can be freshened up and reused.  

I think the goal should be to end up with a solid driver that looks good and one that can hold it's own on the street and not be a slouch at the track, be it a drag strip or a road course. 

Anyway, that's my $.02

I wish I didn't have so many irons in the fire at the moment, (eating every spare dollar I can scrounge up),,,,because I think I have the perfect car for this kind of project.
...actually it is my daughter's "first car", which she started on with me, but then college,jobs, and boyfriend got in the way.

It is unique, sporty, has good lines and a tom of potential.

It's a late 70's, 1977 or 78 German built Ford Capri.  My daughter is the second owner and it is a rust free california car.
I don't know if you guys remember these, but they were a really sporty looking car back in the day. These were incredibly popular in the UK, and are sometimes thought of as the "mustang" for Europe.

My daughter removed the tired old V6 and has a 302 for it from a ford pick up.
She already has the V8 engine mounts, an oversized front sway bar, adjustable F&R konis, comp leaf springs, and big brakes for it.
Her "truck" 302 has a chrome fox body oil pan & valve covers, an aluminum intake, and a pair of fox body BBK headers.
She's already installed the new rear leafs, rebuilt the rear brakes, and removed the torn up seats/carpet from the car.
Then, "life happened" and she has no time for it right now.  I guess it's kind of a good thing at the moment because she was doing the work (I helped a little) and I was the one buying the parts.
Most of the parts I have were "leftover" from other projects. I think to date we still have less than 3,500 in the car and our "original goal" was to complete it ourselves for under 10k & have a respectable cruiser she could take to cruise nights and the occaisonal autocross.

We were planning on putting a T5 on the back of the mild 302 with maybe a gilmer belt drive (which we already have) to make some cool noise.
Maybe use 17 inch ford cobra R mustang wheels in 4 lug, since they are cheap and will bolt right up. (Stock on the capri was 13 x6 wheels!)
Probably do some mild fender flares & run like a 245/40/17 on all 4 corners?
Some fresh carpet and a custom gauge panel with some nice gauges, and maybe some cheapie recaro knock offs.
I already have a mold and three front spoilers for the car, and a rear spoiler.  Maybe make a fiberglass cowl hood for it with a large air filter.
Keep the paint simple, like white, with flat black hood and spoilers. Keep it low and level, sort of like a 70s Trans-Am car.

ughhh, now I'm getting depressed. So many projects, and so little time/money...
 Well, hopefully she will regain interest in the car someday.
Here's a pic of the body style from a British poster

Well, sadly parts are not available from the usual vintage musclecar parts suppliers, because these cars have sort of fallen under the radar.
The good news is that they continued to build them up into the mid 1980s in Europe, so anything that you can't find in the USA is usually available through ebay in the UK, and there are a few clubs & support groups for them.
The key as always, is starting with a good shell that doesn't need sheet metal replacement.
I wonder of the guys in Arizona have any of these?

Good ideas Uno, but I don't think we can get a decent Mopar that cheap either!