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.
Speaking with a lot of experience, this is an expensive hobby to get into. There is no such thing as cheap. The sweet spot for availability is find locally popular mainstream cars that are 10 to 20 years old. Anything older gets classic car tax on parts and everything starts to become rarer. Anything newer is more expensive just due to the fact its sort of current. Anything you would be proud to work on will cost money, anything extremely cheap will either require substantial work or you won't be proud to work on. I don't want to put you off, just be prepared to spend money. Good luck.
I could have worded that a little better I suppose. I feel like anything I accomplish would be something to be proud of. Fixing a car is such a large task, and I totally realize this will likely just be a money sink with the end result being one more scrapped vehicle.
But I don't really have a desire to start with stuff like lawn mowers and mopeds. There are transferable skills available to learn, but it's not something I'd be proudly using.