re: My next toy to tinker with, and now featured in the Herald...
Got quite a job ahead of you there.
But I love those litte cars. We had one with a "dune buggy" body when I was a teenager in the late 70's. Put $5 of gas in it and you could drive the trails all afternoon!
(Gas was 75 cents and you were moving about 35 or so on some kinda rough two-track back roads. Probably getting 30mpg while doing so.)