How is your tolerance to risk taking? If you think the economy will rebound, Ford and General Motors stocks are selling at historic lows. With your $10,000 you could buy 1000 shares of GM or 2000 shares of Ford. It's been many years since that has been possible.
Or, play it safe and put your money into Certificates of Deposit. You won't make much, but you won't lose anything for sure because they are FDIC insured against loss. This is what I would do, myself, with most of the money, but I could see holding a hundred shares of both auto companies. If both companies go bankrupt, we will have bigger worries than a couple hundred shares of stock (at least here in Michigan).
Most investments are a minefield right now, and like Jim Kramer of Mad Money says, the laws favor short sellers to the detriment of the shareholders. Otherwise it would be time to get into the market while prices are so depressed.