Bosco, as far as finding a good car you will need to check out local papers, auto trader and hemmings motor news. We are fortunate to be in a fairly rust free environment so try these first. Be prepared to look at alot of dogs that are overpriced, and say that they are specially equiped rare cars.
Once you find one make sure you take a friend that will give you an honest opinion and you can throw the Vehicle Identifacation numbers on the board and we can tell you what you have.
My best overall advice is spend a little more up front if you can because everything you fix costs more than you think!