Mine was old and was my first car. I repainted it and did a pretty bad job of it. It was fun and as I recall not terribly bad. I recall a clutch and CV joint as only significant repairs.
Headlight switch caught fire once. That was kind of fun. Oh, and the odometer and gas gauge both broke.
Those were minor things. Switch was about a $20 fix. 35 years later, I still prefer small, nimble cars with manual transmissions. Current car, 2006 Pontiac Vibe. Almost 260,000 miles.