I basically did the same when researching mine. FFR really initially jumps out at you. They have great marketing & you really can build it pretty cheap if you go bare bones. Who really goes bare bones, though? I put the math together for a number of cars, at the time. I realized that if I went with what I really thought to be an excellent looking car & cut my corners right, I could have what I really wanted(Or at least as close to it as is economically feasible
) within range of a really nice FFR..... I doubt I have the lowest budgeted ERA but I build mine quite reasonably considering the upgrades & add-ons I went with. Even an ERA can be built reasonably if you don't need all the bells & whistles.