Well, I am an Fbody 'guy' if you will. We choose the Fbody platform over the Mustang, Corvette, 300ZX, RX7, M3 and the Supra when we build my firebird 3 years ago. Although all cars have there up sides and down sides (and yes, even a supra has a down side) we felt that for what we were doing at the track, you couldn't find a better package for the money. The major points we considered were:
1. Cheap, for the car itself, for parts - every thing is cheap.
2. Reliable, the motors will by far, outlast any other car I listed (exc Corvette, same motor) in a road racing situation. When it comes time to do a freshen up, the LT1 or the LS1 is cheap in compairision to the 2JZ, 4.6 DOHC or any rotary motor. The stock 7.5" 10 bolt is a little weak once you start laying down the power, but if you don't abuse the car you'll be just fine. There are also many aftermarket, bolt in rear ends from companies like Moser that even give you the ability to keep ABS if you desire. The trannys are rock solid, it's a T56, the same tranny that is behind the Vipers V10.
3. Cornering, while they maybe not as good as a RX7 stock, these cars with very minor modifications can do over 1G on the skid pad. This would be more than adiquate on the street. I really wish this car had a IRS for the track, but it is defently nice not having an expensive Dana rearend in the back to worry about like on the Corvette. Only on tracks like Black Hawk Farms do I yearn for a lighter, more nimble car. On almost any other track the car has the ability to run with the best of them in the corners.
4. Mechanical, these cars are by far the easiest to work on. Have you looked at a 300ZX? OMFG, that is a mess I would never want to drive into. While some people may compain about the Optispark being a POS, I have over 25k on mine, but that is all racing miles - with several blown up water pumps that spewed crap all over it - not one problem. In 1995 they went to a vented Opti, this greatly increased the life of the distributor. While it isn't a cure, it elimintated a lot of the problem by allowing trapped moister to exit the distro. Most people see over 100k on an Opti, and it's an afternoon job for a shade tree mechanic to replace. Keep in mind that this is not a factor on the LS1 cars, they got rid of the damn thing
5. Braking, the stock brakes are a little under powered on the LT1 cars, the LS1 cars (and for 10k, you should defently get a LS1) are a lot better becuase they switched to the 2 piston caliper. If you do get an LT1 you can do the LS1 swap or find a pair of the two piston PBR calipers found on the C4 corvette or any 1LE camaro.
6. The aftermarket for these cars is 2nd only to the Mustang. There are more parts, for a cheaper price for the Fox bodys and the SN95 cars - but the Fbody comes in a very close second. Everything from cat backs to coilovers are avalible for these cars - cheap. Another nice thing is that almost all wearable parts are avalible from a aftermarket manufature unlike most of the Jap and Euro cars. It's nice when you can buy a sealed wheel bearing assembly (or what ever it may be) from a WD and don't have to go through the dealer. It literally cuts my wearable budget in half from the price savings of going to a non-OE piece for bearings, u-joints, ball joints etc.
7. Stubs, while this is something that you shouldn't worry about - it was a concern for me. There are pre-fabricated stubs in the event that you torque up the subframe. If you were to do this on a street car it would be totaled, collect your insurance check and get another - if you ever want to make a track car, its a great way to save money over a custom fab stub.
All in call if you like the lines of the car they are a good solid car that can be easly driven daily. Even on the V8 models, you can see over 25 MPG on the freeway. If you like the car - get one, and happy shopping!