Get a 88-98 chevy pickup, there is so much aftermarket out there for small block chevys its insane and you can basically swap any motor and setup right in. Plus there 1500 frames are plenty stout and strong enough for anything you want to due because many of them came with 454's in them. My 90 had 300,000 + miles of hard driven and hard workin on it before the 700r4 went out and the motor started havin some spark knock. Since then ive dropped in a stroked 350 (383) 1.94 heads many many perfromence parts, keith black flatop pistons, 6 inch rods, aggresive elgin cam, and to back that up i built a turbo 350 with a b&M transpack with all the hardened parts and extra clutches and i just purchased a 11" torque convertor. doesnt do very good on gas, runnin premium, but what can you expect when your makin 450 horses and around 500 ftpds of torque.