@Stan Galat Everything you say makes perfect sense. And I can understand that the decision between Lion King and full engine build isn't binary. I plan to reside somewhere in the middle.
After a long drive last night, my RetroRadio decided to freeze when i turned off the car. It was on, but unresponsive. I feared that it would continually draw battery power, so decided to try to troubleshoot. I was under the footwell inspecting the radio and found the main plug, but was unable to unplug it without extreme force. Afraid to snap it, I sent a text to Greg and he assured me it was just just a matter of wiggling and a bit of elbow grease. Managed to finally unplug, wait 60 seconds, then refit and it worked like a charm. And of course, I walked into the house feeling like I just built a car. My wife was playfully ribbing me about a brand new car already having me on my back, but as i told her....that's part of the reason I got the car rather than a modern electronic monster. The things that break on these can always be fixed. Of course it was just a simple plug, but it was rewarding. Im rambling.
I don't plan on delving too deep initially into the mechanic aspect, as I hope to rekindle my love for driving initially. But I'm fully invested in learning how these cars work, how to fix some things, etc.
That's part of the appeal, as someone that never really worked on any car before.