The golden age to buy muscle cars was in the 1973-1978 time frame. The oil embargo made those cars undesirable and cheap.
You could buy any type of muscle car for $1500 to $4500.
Example: Neighbor had an all original 1968 Shelby GT500 with a 428/dual quads and an auto trans.Under 50k miles and in nice condition for $4800 in 1977.
Or another guy in town had a 1970 Hemi Cuda - complete but disassembled for $4500.
I could type for hours on the prices, but it does no good. The way back machine is broken......