I agree get a 220V MIG. For a home mechanic that wants a welder that will do anything you need it to do, I'd specifically suggest as a bare minimum one of the following...Hobart Handler 190, Lincoln Powermig 180c, or Millermatic 180. Hobart will be the cheapest of the bunch (it's Miller's discount line) but it still gets very good reviews. Biggest difference is the stepped voltages on the Hobart (7 choices), vs infinite voltage on the Lincoln & Miller. But that won't matter much because 7 choices are pretty good...better than many cheaper ones that only offer 4. Millermatic will be the most expensive probably, but it has this a slick "Autoset" feature that takes much of the learning curve away of setting voltage & wire speed and reportedly works pretty well (I haven't personally tried one). Might be worth the little extra cash.

I feel all of those will work well and you can get one new for about $700-1,000ish in the US...not sure about where you're at. I consider those models a minimum and I would not suggest anyone ever go any smaller/cheaper than those. None will include a gas bottle so you'll need to add that cost. And then for your first welding project, you buy some angle iron and build yourself a welding cart out of it to hold your new welder, bottle, and tools. That welding cart will be your welding 101 class...it's a great way to learn and a non-critical part you can do screwed up welds on and not really hurt anything.

I feel you should entirely avoid the 110V units (the link Neil provided above is a 110). I admit they can often work well, but most are VERY easy to exceed duty cycle if you do anything beyond thin sheetmetal, and therefore they'll usually live a short life before burning up a circuit board or something and costing you substantially more in the long run. Do NOT fall into the Harbor Freight trap for a welder. Junk. My other STRONG suggestion is to invest in a decent quality auto-darkening helmet. It makes life soooooo much nicer, will shorten your learning curve, and as a small side benefit it might prevent you from actually going blind. By the time you add all that up (welder, bottle, helmet, some material) I don't see you getting what you probably need for much less than about $1500(new)...but it will be very much a worthwhile expense.