I mostly agree with Smitty minus the Dodge. For what you want to spend you could get a really nice truck of that age. I might even go a little newer into the mid 80's but then they have those pesky gadgets, lol.
Hard to beat a Ford with the 240 or 300 engine or the Chevy with any of the smaller engines. With the smaller engines they will all get within 3 MPG of anything new and cost a lot less.
Then again, I drive mostly antiques and collectibles and fart on anything new so I might be partial to them, lol