That's what I figured, as far as it not actually being vintage, but it'd be the closest thing I've built so maybe a good start. Plus, Elway and Marino and some of the earliest guys I remember actually watching play as a young child so it would be cool to have their rookie cards. Plus Eric Dickerson has a rookie in the set, along with numerous other non-rookie stars.
Thanks for the tip on buying lots. Definitely might not be a terrible idea to have dupes to trade out with folks, regardless of what set I choose. SportLots will probably be my first stop, though. Depending on the set, I should be able to get most of the commons pretty cheap there. With this set, I can get over half the cards for $.20 each from a seller on there we just discussed a few days ago (lattacar). So that'd be a nice start to at least start filling the box. I think with the rookies, and the bigger cards in there like Walter Payton, I'll probably go ahead and buy those on eBay as I can so I can go ahead and get them graded. Probably shoot for any grade now, then plan to upgrade later.
Again, I haven't actually settled 100% on '84 Topps yet, but that's where I'm leaning. I was hoping some of the folks on this site could offer a bit of insight to a set that maybe I'd overlooked. I haven't spent a lot of time looking at older cards so I really don't know when most folks were rookies, or who is in what set.
