Lots of excellent deals on CORVETTES right now. You can pick up a "C5" 'Vette in your price range, probably in the '99-00 years, especially now that the C6 has been announced (the C5 guys are hating life as prices plummet).
If you don't mind going a little older, you can find (in your price range) a very low miles '96 "C4" Corvette with the 330HP (grossly underrated) LT4 engine with 6-speed ZF tranny. The C4's outhandle the C5's by a pretty good margin and are a blast to drive. I had a '93 for almost 5 years and it was my daily driver until two months ago.....that's when I bought my Cobra and I couldn't keep both. Alas, I did manage to squeeze a few photographs of them side by side (see photo album).
Good luck in your search...I'm now driving a pick-up truck until I can
absorb the Cobra.
EDIT: I might add that the fuel economy on these cars is not that bad, so long as you stay off the loud pedal. And despite their complexity, I found mine to be super reliable.