I want a manual car that I can learn to wrench on and that can be had for $4-7k (initial cost) in good-excellent...

i think a manual is300 would best suit your needs

Looks interesting but I found one clean example in all of Florida. Five hours away.

Inadvertently found the Lexus SCs, do you know anything about those? Also hard to find them. Are Lexuses expensive with DIY in general?