hey bro welcome to the madness, i can't thank you enough for not gettin a rusted out chebby or a POS civic, thank you for keepin the blue oval goin..
to yer Q's, if yer a newbie learnin on somthin, i suggest you(yer gonna hate this) get a POS you don't care about. i learned on a 5.0 crown vic an i put many hondas in thier place, that 5.0 torque..i learned how to handle the power of rwd, the layout of a 5.0 lil nuances... especially how to pilot a car safetly an I can honestly say i'm glad i waited untill was out of highschool before gettin my GT. I respect its power more, i bought it, an am aware of my limits as a driver. unless yer steve mqeen, yer gonna wreck yer first car.. its inevitable. the queston is do you wanna muss up a stang or a pos?
that said, the 4.6 96- are a lil skitish. Am's not as big as 5.0, headers are a pain to replace, lil subtlties compromise their abities for powermaking. sucky Low end, some powertrains, trannies, might still be under warranty.. but they do look nicer than the 94-95 with rounded edges of the 96-98 years
the 4.6 DOHC cobras are nightmares up top tho..
the 5.0s are becoming few an precious, strictly from a "good reliable" point. most are well over the100k mark sporting aftermarket support out the wazoo. the quintesential drag car is a fox 80's lx 5.0. lighter than the GT's but same exact power plant.
go with a 89-93 if you can with EFI for a reliable PoV.
good luck findin one that hasn't been smashed up.
next up is the 94-95 5.0. the last year of the 302, but new body style of the 94-98, not a screamer, but very nice with simple touchs: wheels, springs, etc. plus they are becoming rare.
geeze $1,000
most fox 5.0s with low milage are 6-10k.you didn't sa if the 5.0 was manual? Autos are funky, i searchd long an hard for a 5.0 5spd, but ran into too many basket cases that had either smashed em up or modded them wrong.
strictly from 1/4 mile pov, convertibles suck. really heavy, don't get a 4.6 drop top if you wanna run it.