Think of a certain model of late '60's - early 70's pony car that you like.
Now imagine finding one that some guy fixed up, but he wasn't trying to make it showroom original/perfect. He tweaked the engine and suspension, made sure it didn't squeak and rattle, and basically made a high performance daily driver out of it... with merely a decent paint job... nothing that would inspire paranoia re: door dings, etc.
Is that the type of thing that might interest you? If so, you might want to check out a few car shows in Spring and early Summer... or look around online... I would imagine there are a decent number of interesting cars of that type that would go for less than $40K. And they'd be easy to work on, find parts for, or get someone else to work on.
