Hey Joe,
Last night I was looking at several 55-57 chev's fore sale (I want a gasser too) & I saw some candidates for well under 10,000. There was a decent 2 lane/blacktop 55 in black w/ radiused 1/4's for sale for 14,900 that looked pretty cool. I saw 2 55's for 7500.00 that looked liked good starting platforms too. They were in the "hot rod/custom" section. Good luck & tell us what you come up with.