Great chronicling of your ownership. And eventual sales experience. $8k is quite a bit in only a year... but that's probably still a lot less than you would spend yearly in car payments on a $40000 vehicle. So if you look at it that way... you came out ahead.
Luckily I have not had to invest that much money into mine... though do have some maintenance to attend to. I've had mine about the same amount of time as you and have spent ~$2500 (on non-elective things) and put 12,000 miles on her. If you include upgrades and such... then we've spent closer to $4000ish.
At any rate, good luck on your next project whatever you decide to go with. I suggest E30... they ARE enthusiast vehicles and are commanding high prices for well-sorted OEM or OEM+ examples.