By now you should be pretty familiar with the Rough Start finds that I put up each week. The premise behind these Craigslist hunts is simple: for $5,000 you should be able to have a running, driving car that doesn’t suck, isn’t too slow, isn’t so horrific that it makes people call the cops, and is reliable enough to be a solid daily driver. Five grand can go pretty far if you know what you are doing and take the time to monitor any input costs and start with a good basis. Ideally, you start with a car that already has the running gear sorted, leaving you with petty details like paint or wheels. But some might consider that cheating, or maybe you found the perfect builder for very low investment and want to use the rest of the cash on hand to build the car with? That’s an option, too.

J.Malcom is the guy who films a lot of the Georgia grudge racing stuff we’ve been featuring, and recently he dove in head-first into his own $5,000 project. The base is a G-body Monte Carlo that he picked up for $500. The engine bay is empty, but the car has been mini-tubbed at some point along the way, which leaves some interesting options on the table. He isn’t putting a goal on any timeslip or performance barrier past “it’s running”…instead, this will be a build capped at $5,000, labor included. Why count that? Because not everybody builds everything…some things have to get farmed out and counting labor keeps the scope of the build in check. Where would you go with this car? I’d think a budget-build 350 Chevy capable of withstanding a 150 shot and an overdrive automatic would be the way to go here, but put up your suggestions below!