I guess this goes in the "my ,02 for what it's worth category". Something I started doing when I was involved in cars in the old days (20 years ago+). Don't go looking at these things by yourself. Bring a buddy or two along, preferaby friends with equal or better knowledge than yours. It doesn't hurt if you plan to rope them into helping you with the project.
They'll tend to see more of the bad things about a car. That gives one a support system. How many times have you bought something, overlooking it's problems, telling yourself "I can fix that"? Only to bring it home and realize what a headache you've just saddled yourself with?
As far as prices? I've chased a couple that were in my range, drag car rollers. Both had everything I was looking for or at least as good a compromise as I could hope for. I've looked at a few others that, I'm just just not gonna comment on and let it go at that. On the other hand, I've seen alot of street cars that I shake my head at, pricewise anyway. Seems lately anyway, all I need to do is show interest in a car and it sells before I can take any action, LOL!