Hello c/cars
tl;dr: I'm looking for knowledge of a cheap simple car (with cheap parts) to break/fix/learn.
My apologies if this is semi-rambley. I've been forever stuck at "too afraid to break my daily driver" and only really feel comfortable changing the oil and refilling various fluids.
I want to change that.
Problem is... I'm a hands-on type of learner. I need to break/fix something to really get the knowledge (and confidence) so I was thinking of getting a project car to work on and dispose of. Something I would be proud to repair over time but also not care if I miserably fail and have to get it scrapped. My neighbor highly recommended that I don't touch anything past the 90s, as the electrical systems in modern cars are apparently terrifying even to skilled mechanics, but I feel like the older the car gets the rarer (more expensive) the replacement parts would be. I want it to be as cheap and simple as possible. I'm only trying to learn... I'm not restoring a show car.
That's why I'm here. Do you have any suggestions at what I should look at?
I'm thinking something compact or subcompact just so I don't have to take up a huge portion of my garage storing the vehicle itself. (and yes, I realize there will be plenty of parts and tools involved). My neighbor recommended I look at various auctions to choose one of the totaled vehicles available at clearance pricing, which... seems a little extreme for me. I'd rather choose something neglected and go from there. I want to figure out how to replace a window by disassembling the door. Find out to plug a leak in the windshield washers lines. Replace the alternator and recharge a battery. Flush the brakes and change the rotors. Restore a headlight or brake light unit. Change the stereo. Fix a seatbelt. That kind of stuff.
100% 2000-2010 was a real sweet spot, modern enough to be reliable and fuel efficient, old enough to not have tech that's intrusive. Parts are mostly still available and if you are talking Japanese cars, they will do 300k miles with minimal issues. I have 293k on my 01 Tundra and I beat the hell out of that truck for a long time.
Yeah this was my thought too. Mid 2000s crown vic or a Tahoe or something if you want a ridiculous amount of parts in America. Tons of them getting scrapped right now because body rust making them too expensive to repair, even though all the guts are cheap, and you can find all of it on eBay or pick n pull.
Nice thing too is if you want to do body work they have nice big flat pieces that are good to learn on.