seancsnm
Newbie
Hey all, just joined, and for a specific reason too. I'll be a sophomore mechanical engineering major this fall, and rather than getting a job over the summer like a normal person would, I'm taking 13 hours at my community college to maybe avoid that fifth year a lot of engineering students take.
Anyways, I've always love to get my hands dirty. At a young age, taking electronics, especially VCRs and other things with shiny moving parts was my idea of :love:. That said, I've always been somewhat interested in cars, but never have pursued that interest, partly because I got a sort of pessimistic view of cars from people around me. My grandpa used to be a mechanic, but he never really has been very warm to me (I think he tends to favor particular people and doesn't know what to do with the rest). My uncle also turned me off, telling me that anything car-related would be a dead-end money hole. Okay, maybe the latter part is true, and as for the former part, the possibility of designing cars hadn't yet entered my mind.
Now, I have to find out if I really want to design cars. I figure the most practical way is to learn how they work and how to work on them. And this brings me to the question almost everyone here has at one point asked: how do I get started? But I don't think the theoretical learning part is too much of a problem - there's lots of content on the Internet, people like you for specific questions, and books/manuals, such as the one I am currently reading through (1980s Readers Digest Complete Car Care Manual, a very detailed book by the way).
But with all the other class work I'm doing, I'm tired of sitting down all day every day just cramming knowledge in - I want to find a car I can get my hands dirty with. But being the poor college student I am, I don't have the money to go out spending $5k plus a lot more restoring that 68 Mustang dream. I need to find a car that is dirt cheap ($500 or less), and cheap/easy to find parts for. I also want to find something with very good mileage that I can eventually convert to my daily driver and get some style points with. So my question is, what makes/models are generally the best for this, and where should I look for one? Japanese imports are pretty common, but they never break so they're pretty expensive. European cars can get cheap, but parts seem to be a lot more expensive. American cars don't really catch my attention, but I think I could live with that if I can find a decent one. I've been looking at craigslist, and most cars that fit that description either don't run at all, meaning I'd have to find someone willing to tow it for me, or come and go ridiculously fast.
It probably sounds like I have it all figured out, but does anyone have any tips or suggested changes in direction?
tl.dr: What's the best, cheapest, easiest to work on car to start out learning on?
Anyways, I've always love to get my hands dirty. At a young age, taking electronics, especially VCRs and other things with shiny moving parts was my idea of :love:. That said, I've always been somewhat interested in cars, but never have pursued that interest, partly because I got a sort of pessimistic view of cars from people around me. My grandpa used to be a mechanic, but he never really has been very warm to me (I think he tends to favor particular people and doesn't know what to do with the rest). My uncle also turned me off, telling me that anything car-related would be a dead-end money hole. Okay, maybe the latter part is true, and as for the former part, the possibility of designing cars hadn't yet entered my mind.
Now, I have to find out if I really want to design cars. I figure the most practical way is to learn how they work and how to work on them. And this brings me to the question almost everyone here has at one point asked: how do I get started? But I don't think the theoretical learning part is too much of a problem - there's lots of content on the Internet, people like you for specific questions, and books/manuals, such as the one I am currently reading through (1980s Readers Digest Complete Car Care Manual, a very detailed book by the way).
But with all the other class work I'm doing, I'm tired of sitting down all day every day just cramming knowledge in - I want to find a car I can get my hands dirty with. But being the poor college student I am, I don't have the money to go out spending $5k plus a lot more restoring that 68 Mustang dream. I need to find a car that is dirt cheap ($500 or less), and cheap/easy to find parts for. I also want to find something with very good mileage that I can eventually convert to my daily driver and get some style points with. So my question is, what makes/models are generally the best for this, and where should I look for one? Japanese imports are pretty common, but they never break so they're pretty expensive. European cars can get cheap, but parts seem to be a lot more expensive. American cars don't really catch my attention, but I think I could live with that if I can find a decent one. I've been looking at craigslist, and most cars that fit that description either don't run at all, meaning I'd have to find someone willing to tow it for me, or come and go ridiculously fast.
It probably sounds like I have it all figured out, but does anyone have any tips or suggested changes in direction?
tl.dr: What's the best, cheapest, easiest to work on car to start out learning on?
