Thoughts on what should be my first custom car
Something that I want to start doing is making custom diecast cars. Some I want to race; others would be for show in diorama projects. My question is what car should I start with?
Discussion
The Subaru WRX STI is a good one. Easy to clear out the interior and add weights.
If you've never built a car before you might want to consider one with a plastic body. They're very easy to drill apart and screw back together. Be super careful about stripping paint and tampos. Many to most strippers will melt a plastic body.
If you want to go racing you need to choose a race, a casting that's legal for said race, and consider factors like wheelbase, track width, center of gravity, etc. Plenty of articles in the archives of RLD on how to go about that.
If you just want to have a little fun then go on ebay and hunt down the casting that you put the most miles on as a kid. Maybe get two. One to restore and one to customize.
Most importantly, grab a handful of cars you don't care about and practice drilling, tapping, and/or JB Welding before you dive into a project you really want to complete. I'm surely not the only one to have blown out the posts or destroyed the plastic bases of more than a couple cars before I finally got it right.
Go to the junk and thrift stores, see if you can pick up a couple of bags of cars that way. Now you have something to practice on, an if it goes wrong, who cares? Start on those cars until you feel comfortable about drilling--don't worry, I don't feel comfortable tapping for screws, either.
As Ruckus pointed out, start with plastic-bodied cars. You don't even need a regular drill to drill them out--a T-handle with the bit inserted works just fine, and also prevents you from drilling too fast and too far (been there, done that .....)
Again, look through the archives here--there is a LOT of information about how to customize cars, both for racing and dioramas.
I've been thinking about making some Pixar Cars version of famous drag racer "Big Willie" Robinson from some Strip Weathers diecast cars. Is it too ambitious of a project? I was also thinking about making a "Black Ghost" Dodge Challenger paint job on a Rod "Torque" Redline car.
My advice is, start with a casting you don't care about, because it's going to get messed up. It's all trial and error. You've gotta screw some things up before you get it figured out. Good luck!
FWIW, I'm new to this as well. The main thing I know is I have an aesthetic I want to vibe with already set, and so after practicing on some sacrificial junkers acquired from local thrift stores to get my technique down, then I'm going to move into customizing the castings I want to be my main racers (i.e. the midlife crisis cars 1975 Corvette Stingrys (the one in my PFP), and 1980s Lamborghini Countach LP5000 QVs).
Basically, what everyone else has said--pick something that you don't mind messing up to start with, learn on those--then pick something that speaks to you after you build your chops.
I'll say that any car is great. You can use it as a diorama and for racing.
I'd say a van is always a good option. If it's fast you can race it, if not, it will fit great in a diorama. Vans have great real estate to showcase your paint and or decal skills as well.