2wd short bed pickups make fun street toys with the right engine and stance. Not as cheap as they once were as they are getting harder to find, but I think you can go farther with your money vs a popular muscle car. People here are even cutting down long beds and making them into short beds so if you have a nice swb pickup they practically sell themselves.

Perhaps you don't find your dream ride right away, but you can always buy something else that is popular and an easy sell so you can get your money back out of it quickly should the one you really want show up. I know a guy who buys and trades mid-level desirable project cars and trucks on the side. Some are bought with dead engines, missing engines and transmissions etc. He puts more elbow grease than money into them to get them running with parts out of his stash, and then sells them a year or so later. Most of the time he puts a small amount of money in his pocket on each car. That money is used to buy the next one and so on so once you do a couple cars the cost to keep doing this is minimal so long as you keep buying the right type of vehicle.

I think the high prices on collectables are partially due to our money being devalued so much. People are buying and selling trying to convert their money into 'other stuff''.