Welcome. The other members have pointed you in the right direction to get started and it does look finding one in your price range is definitely doable.

I kind of keyed in on this statement of yours "...I would want mine to be a real daily driver..." which slants my perspective somewhat.

Before you jump in with both feet I'll throw out a few thoughts for you.

Even with an updated suspension and brakes these cars often will not handle, ride, or stop as well as many of the new cars. Don’t get me wrong done properly they will do well but may not be what you are expecting. You might want to get a good test drive in the one you finally choose to buy prior to finalizing the sale and determine if it is really what you want.

The quality of the build should be should be the primary concern when you are looking at the car. This is a lot more involved than determining that the paint is shiny and the upholstery is nice. The mechanical aspects will determine if the car is fun or a nightmare money pit. There are a lot of nice looking cars out there that at best a cobbled together and in some cases downright dangerous. I’ve seen far too many recently purchased cars go thru my shop and others that were far more project cars than drivers when they came in. For the amount of money you are planning on spending, pay someone who is knowledgeable on modified cars to give it a complete inspection.

The amount and type of driving you will be doing should be a big factor when looking at the car. A big high compression engine with low gears and non-overdrive transmission is a lot of fun if you only take it out on Saturday night but you may not want to fill it up with premium fuel every 3 days if you’re driving it everyday.

Finally you may want to do a little bit of looking into insurance especially if you do use it as a daily driver. Many regular insurance companies will not provide full coverage on a vehicle that old. Stated value insurance policies are generally reasonable in price but often place restrictions on the total annual mileage, storage, and limit the use for things like taking it to work.