Restoring costs lots more, cause, if done right, you'll get some return, and the value will go up. John Force doesn't do up his cars cause the money comes back in the cars. The more mods you make,ie, money you throw into the mods, the less you'll ever see from said mods. If you can find a restored 5.0, done right, you'll spend more than if you dig one of the many blown, twisted and tweaked Mustangs off the want ads. I love the ones that say "I've got $20,000 in parts, so I need to get $20,000," on a car that, if you spent $10,000, you might get it to resemble what it is.