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.
Assuming you're in the USA, I would 100% recommend an older truck. We've built millions of them, finding parts just isn't a problem (assuming you avoid any weird trim levels). Ford F-150 & GM Silverado would be my personal pick, but Dodge/RAM 1500 & Toyota Tundra are also great. And, they tend to lag behind as far as technology goes, making them a bit easier to work on.
The word 'older' is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. That's going to depend on you. If you're comfortable with modern electronics and want to lean how to plug in an advanced code reader and are comfortable digging through Youtube videos, you might be fine with a 10 year old truck. Conversely, if you want to learn how to tune a carburetor, well, you're going to want to look for trucks from the 70s....