Well it really depends on many things. The condition of the car, what you want when you're done, how much YOU want to do, and how mechanically inclinded you are.
It can cost anywhere up to over $10,000+ if you want to make it really quick and look really good.
First of all, I'm assuming you like your car if you want do fix it up. So first off you will want to get rid of all the rust. Sometimes it can be sanded down, filled, and painted. Sometimes you might have to remove a full panel and replace it. My recommendation would be to do all you can by yourself, and maybe even sand down the current paint job and prime it yourself, then take it in and have it professionally painted. You'll get the best results that way for the cheapest amount of money.
Now, as for the engine, I'm not sure what kind of engine you have in your car, but to get speed, you'll probably want to definatly make sure you have a free-flowing (read: large) exhaust system, and nice open headers, as well as a good intake system. Doesn't matter how much can get out if you can't get enough air IN.
For the actual workings of the engine. To get best results out of an older engine would be to fully rebuild it. Port and polish the intake manifold and intake runners (if any on that engine), also maybe bore out the cylindars to increase the displacement of the engine. Depending what you want to do with the car (normal street driving, racing only for fun, up to the speed limit of course, or actually taking it to the track) you might want to put in all new pistons, valves and connecting rods. Porting and polishing the heads will yield large results, too.
A LOT of time can be invested fixing up a car, it's tons of fun, too. Remember, if you think something should take you an hour to do, leave at least 3 hours to do it. The advantage of older cars/engines is that you don't have the same amount of computer connections and vacuum hoses that newer cars have.
I hope that's a start for ya, well, I hope that's a kind of response that will be of some help. If you have any more questions, just ask, i'll do my best to answer or help ya find answers.
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