What Car: Learning to wrench edition.

Must have a carburetor, point ignition and mechanical valve lift. Oh yes, manual transmission. After that comes the electronics and automatic transmissions.

Doesn't matter the make or model. could even be a truck.

I'd throw 1990s era Honda Civics into the mix - huge aftermarket and a ton of online support.

foxbody wagon is the answer here. although in this area of ohio the buy in isnt very cheap anymore!

RWD with room under the hood. Depends on how far you want to go. Late 80's early 90's common vehicles would be a good idea. My Rangers come to mind. Easy to diagnose and work on.

Perhaps I missed it somewhere, but where are you located? If you want simple and fun to take on ice-cream runs with the kids (not necessarily the same as sports-car fun) I'd take a look at old Ford Falcons. Dead simple mechanicals, 3-speed column shift, bench seat, elbow on the window, 60's cruising baby! There's plenty around on craigslist in the rust-free states.

In reply to edwardh80:

Friend of mine just picked up a late 60s falcon wagon, good 3 on the tree, 200 6 that needed a real good tune up, drove ok, very little rust, he paid $2000 for it and drove it back from Kansas.

My suggestion is....

Something you like. Something you have a genuine interest in, a passion about.

Wrenching, while rewarding and fun can also be drudgery without a paycheck for doing it. Especially if you are just learning. You have to be excited about the end result.

Choose a car you like and are excited about.