Whatever I get will end up a project car, and it will be in addition to another car. A motor swap would actually be a good thing, it'd keep me from having to do it myself. The whole point of a cheaper than $10k car is so that I don't have to have car payments on it.

 

I know where you are coming from, but a project car means "cheap and DIY". Not spend an ass load off money for a car that is already been messed with. You will end up kicking yourself in the ass for not buying a regular car and fixing it up yourself. If a 240 is what you want then shop around.....they can be had for less than 5k + you have the fun of picking and choosing what parts you want.

If you had to choose between a cheap modified car or a bone stock ride from an old lady.........which one would you pick?

 

A cheap modified car. My view of a project is probably different than what you're used to. It would be better for me to get a car that already has a motor swap and some other basic hard parts and pay an extra $2000 for it then it would be to by a super clean old lady's car. If I bought the old ladies car I would end up spending more than $2000 bucks on the motor and I'd still end up doing all the same work. By project I mean a project race car, not a project show car. I could care less about the old lady's perfect paint and interior. The interior would be gone the day I got it, it's going to get painted anyway, the suspension is going to be replaced (not just coilover, fully replaced) the motor is going to be torn down and built, etc etc.

 

In most cases you save A LOT of $ buying a car that's already modified. There's nothing wrong with that. Just do your research on the car/person/parts and you'll be fine. Obviously that isn't the case here, but 98% of the time that's what happens.

 

240's suck.

 

You'd know. You've owned them all at one point or another.