Definitely go for it! Ever since I could craw I've loved cars, especially classics/vintage cars! So obviously I wanted an old car for my first to work on and drive. Junior year in highschool me and my dad found a '65 Chevy Corvair (rear engine, air cooled, flat 6) on Criagslist and went and looked at/purchased it. Ever since, me and my dad have been working on it, me doing most of the work, and him helping when needed to get it reliable and good looking.
Trust me, you will love the experience, except the many times you get very frustrated with it when something doesn't cooperate. And as easy as something may seem, it won't be when you go to do it! hehe. I just put new seatbelts in today, which should have been easy, but of course the welded in nuts had rusted threads, so the proper sized bolt didn't fit in them, and the previous owner had smaller bolts in the holes. I just drove the older large bolts (for the outside mounts) into those nuts a few times to clean them enough to get the proper bolts in, then put a second bolt and lock washer on top of the welded nut, as I don't trust those rusted bolts. Of course, it was not as easy as expected!

Good luck! And keep us posted.
Oh, and it's the most fun car I've ever driven, and get a lot of looks, thumbs ups, and "nice cars!" Before this I've always been a quite unnoticed person, so all te attention I get with the car was a big change.