Not sure what I'm getting into...

My name is Kyle and I currently live in a small town in Wisconsin near Minneapolis Minnesota. I've joined this forum because I've always enjoyed classic muscle cars and I'm preparing to delve into my first large project. I don't have a lot of experience doing this. I'm looking for a mildly easy build, something that I can get my boys interested in. I want to go with a Dart, an A body barracuda, or Coronet. I'm not sure if any of these avenues are better than the other. I've been doing as much research as possible before deciding which vehicle to purchase. Perhaps someone out there could steer me in the right direction. The end result would be a summer weekend driver, manual trans, and I'm hoping to end up with enough umph (torque/hp) to bring a smile to my kids and I's faces.