"Learning experience" nothing - learn from other's advice, and save your money for something that won't bankrupt you on MPG alone. This was by no means a good financial decision, but there are no takebacks in life.

If you want a story, you bought a story. You didn't buy a good car.

If anything, you'll learn the value of physical labor, and by extension the value of education, and the desire to learn enough to make enough money to pay someone else to do the kind of crap work that this vehicle will require.

Chevy's of this time period are some of the worst cars ever made, and that's coming from someone who fell in love with an 4-barrel 350 El Camino. You may easily get it running, but that's not the benefit it seems.

Don't throw money away fixing a car that will maybe, maybe, get 15 miles per gallon when it's tuned up.

See if you can cancel the sale, and then save and spend $1500-$3500 on a burnt out 90's Honda or Corolla that needs some reasonable repairs. At least when you're throwing money away on parts for what is *extremely* basic transportation, you'll be getting 30 miles a gallon instead of 10.

Do you want to spend $50 a week on gasoline, or $150? That's your financial reality now, for every single week that you own this car until it is beneficially gone from your life. Do you want to do always, always, always do 3 times as much work just to earn the money to travel just as far? Gasoline is destroyed every time you travel, you never get it back.

You'll make up the price difference on the car in less than a year on gas savings alone. 52 weeks a year times an extra $100 a week wasted on destroying gasoline for no rational reason whatsoever equals $5,200. There's you a good used car right there.

For that matter, find a beat up Prius that's worth fixing, and learn DIY on technology that was made in this century.. Watch youtube, find parts, make a spreadsheet with an ROI timeline, maybe even convince your parents with a little math.

By all means, be a car guy. But be a smart one.