1988 Pontiac Fiero, metallic red, 4-cylinder coupe (base model). Runs fine, got it a bit shy of 70k miles in 2014, not rear-ended in mid 2015 and has since become an ongoing drivable, but-not-pretty project car. The paint was initially in nice shape, but the upper surfaces (mostly on the fiberglass roof, hood, and decklid, not the softer plastic pieces) had the clearcoat start to degrade/oxidize and flake off somewhere in 2016/2017. (left uncovered and unwaxed in Santa Clara valley summer sun, street-parked without shade for 2+ years, which I regret, though we were going through some other, distracting hardships at home at the time)
I've also been driving a 2012 Mustang GT 5.0L VGA that a friend more or less gifted my dad (sold for peanuts), since Dad passed away last year, but I honestly like the fiero more ... and it gets way better gas milage, though not as good as it probably should. (really should do 30+ MPG combined, and I've seen fuel-economy fiero geeks/freaks that squeeze out better than 40 MPG highway in the 4 cylinder model) That and I'm spoiled by the handling and turning radius in the fiero, and the unusual low viewing angle/high visibility ... and suck at parking that Mustang. (technically the rear-side view isn't great in the Fiero, but it's good compared to typical modern cars with thick/high side pillars anyway, which is what the Fiero has too for the excessive-for-the-time rollover specs ... or more realistically: stuff-falling on the roof, give rolling a fiero is pretty much impossible, short of falling off a hill/cliffside)
I don't mind the manual steering at all, either ... not as nice as normal hydraulics, but I'd take it over any drive-by-wire steering I've tried. (the mechanical throttle linkage is a lot nicer than modern things too ... actually more important than the steering: trying to take my driver's test in a borrowed, newer car really screwed me up; I'd learned in my Mom's '95 or '96 volvo station wagon ... which also spoiled me with good rear vision)
Oh, and both the Mustang and Fiero are manuals. (and the auto-4 Fiero is a dog, the manual at least lets you really get that low-end torque the Duke is unusually good for, for an underpowered 4-cylinder)
I originally had a 1985SE 4 cylinder sunroof model with sheepskin seats that had degraded to all hell from sun damage. I'd gotten it for something like $300 from our neighbor (which my parents had sold it to back around 1994 in the first place) and it was run hard, but no crash damage, just over 200k miles, very dirty engine compartment, very corroded battery tray area, and then (possible) overheating damage from Dad and I misdiagnosing a bad alternator as just worn out belts, dead battery, and a bad thermostat. (alternator worked, but was failing in an unuaul mode, but put way too much load on the belts at high RPM, and the same belt drives the water pump, so belt slippage was causing insufficient water flow, overheating, and severe overheating after we drove it with the new belt snapped)
Or Dad drove it. I didn't have my permit at the time. We fixed those problems, but the clutch arm eventually failed, and after replacing it, we couldn't get the clutch hydraulics working again. (after a flush, bleed, slave cylinder swap) ... between that, the degraded cosmetic condition, continual oil leak problems (even after a valve cover gasket replacement), complete lack of door keys (original had broken and an incompetent 'locksmith' had crudely drilled out the trunk lock for $50 at that neighbor's expense prior to me buying it: dead battery made the solenoid latch inoperable ... we could've done a much better job for free, too)
Had I known a bit more about working on the car back then, I might have kept it, but Dad was burned out at the time and it sat for about a year before we sold it to pick n' pull. (new tires too ... though they'd sat outside for over a year, but we'd just put them on before the clutch went)
I put a stupid amount of work replacing that battery tray, too ... so much spot weld drilling and hole-matching and riveting. (though I probably should've used sheet metal screws instead of pop rivets for potential maintenance: they were nice, stainless steel rivets, though)
Also very minimal frame rust/corrosion damage, but we're in Northern California and not on the waterfront, so no salted roads or salt air to deal with. (they keep a lot better here, and that heavy, painted, galvanized steel spaceframe holds up pretty well ... also doesn't have the moisture-wicking and festering rust bubble issues that the Delorean's epoxied frame does or the fiberglass monocue/frame weirdness to deal with ... or low production numbers ... and the mostly-interchangeable GM parts bin and aftermarket support is nice: though the '88 does have the unique front suspension and hubs with limited availability, but that was a bigger issue for Dad when he was racing his '88 GT: the original front hubs were great, but after GM stopped making them, the choice of used original ones vs questionable aftermarket ones was problematic: for road driving it's a non-issue, but he went through those things on a regular basis running PB and later ITA in the SCCA)
Also, on shops vs DIY stuff, it's a mixed bag both ways, especially for older and/or exotic cars. A lot of shops won't even service the things, and if they do, they might not have the right resources to do it (and I mean literature). Having professional service manuals available is important, often beyond the more available retail-user available maintenance manuals, and you often need year-specific volumes to get things 100% right.
Getting help from online forums/communities is useful too, and was probably the big area that could've saved my '88 (I was active in aircraft history forums at the time, but for some reason didn't think to ask for help on that car, probably because I assumed Dad knew everything we needed to know; in hindsight not so much, especially given he'd done a lot more torture testing on the V6 '88, and not so much with the '85 Iron duke, plus some variation in the transmissions there; plus minor electrical system niggles showed up and also weren't racing-tech relevant as he'd stripped nearly all of that out)
Anyway, the best advice I can give on maintenance is: do as much diagnostic work and research as you're capable of yourself, and as much work as you can reasonably/safely do as well, BUT:
When it comes to needing to use a shop (for routine or specialized work or diagnostics), you pretty much need to build a solid customer relationship with a shop you know is competent and with people you trust. Beyond that you're likely to get screw ups regardless of the cost involved.
Being anti-social and not good at business negotiation can be a real problem there. That goes for generic chain/franchise garages/shops, independent small businesses, or specialty shops. The changes in the service industry (and trend to buy new, upgrade more often, not buy used, etc) over several decades didn't help either, for both cost and competence/versatility, but it's not hopless. (not to get into a bigger philosophical or political debate there).
Plus, if you're really confidence you've diagnosed the problem and want it fixed, and a competent-but-stubborn mechanic insists it's something else, you can try negotiating around that ... or making a bet/deal. Dad did that at least once, successfully and ended up with a free repair job out of it. (transmission flex plate had gone bad or cracked in our '95 Caprice wagon, Dad got it right, the guy insisted he was wrong, so made a bet he'd fix it for free if Dad was right ... and Dad was)
Dad was good at that sort of thing, though, and got better service or deals by working around problematic IT or service reps for tech stuff, too (including rather elaborate progression to higher manangement tiers and departments to get someone who actually could deal with the problem: be it hardware or software related, or related to our internet speed/performance, or upgrade pricing ... especially since we use a 3rd party ISP)
But here's a pic of my car from the undamaged angle when we had a freak hailstorm in Jan 2016, plus some rear-end damage sadness. (it looked worse now as Dad and I pulled off the bumper cover to finally straighten things out, and I haven't righted or replaced or jury-rigged the bent mounting points to get the cover back on yet ... and Dad went to far pulling the trunk lip/latch area back out and the decklid on't engage, so it's got bungy cords latching it right now ... but it works, and that's at least handy for over-stuffing that trunk, albeit the luggage rack on my '85 was kinda nice for that)
Err, actually all the rear-end shots I have show the license plate, so here's just one showing the trunk in the aftermath. (luckily it was mostly empty, though my multimeter somehow managed to get one of the lead's plugs mangled/snapped)
And no damage to the suspension or engine compartment thanks to the bumper + trunk both providing a ton of shock absorbsion and crumple zone space. (and no passenger injuries, either ... we had our seatbelts properly adjusted and those seats have pretty decent head/neck and spine support, even for tall people: you do basically sit on the floor, though ... but better than a lot of small cars)
Oh! And at least the pointiac logo/badge on the notchback sides are still intact and properly reflective. Those often degrade and flake off or get cracked. (my '85 had one badly broken open and the other faded to near opaque ... it had a nice, solid metal hood bage/emblem though, which I have around somewhere)