Cheapo flying
Get yourself a Rollason Condor and a set of Cambrai covers for it.
Impress the ladies with the 'RR' plate on the prop boss.
The rodnoC is a piece of P to fly and probably the easiest of any taildragger to land. I learned on them and went solo after 11 hrs so a conversion from a spamcan shouldn't take too long, even if you are just Mr Average like me.
You should be able to find a good one within your budget - pretty much for the value of the engine, the airframes are not worth a great deal for some wierd reason.
Great fun to fly and as cheap as chips to operate, especially if you can find one on a Permit.
THere is a Condor website - check out the Condor thread on Aviation History and Nostalgia for details.
HP