I have slowly rebuilt my wife's old 2000 VW Passat (B5 platform). 232K miles so far.. next year it's officially an antique, can get different plates for it.

Some nice things about this car:

Yes it has a computer, but from just before they serialized everything, so you can easily drop in a replacement (which I've done).

It was used as a taxi in some countries, so spare parts are plentiful.

The complete repair manual is available: https://www.ebay.com/itm/395132634978

I recently repainted it with Rustoleum from Home Depot using a roller (the clear coat had worn off, it looked horrible, but no rust otherwise).