Control surfaces and ESC

by Dewey
(Painesville, OH, USA)

I am a beginner and just want to get a feel of this hobby before I invest more in it.
I recently opened up an old RC car and took out all of the parts and unfortunately only got one servo. So I'm thinking whether I really need an elevator for a Winged plane since its already a "wing". Now I don't even know if I need the ailerons alone or the rudder alone. I can't chose between them. What do you think I should do in this situation?
Since the old RC car has other audio functions where you hit the buttons on the Transmitter and they create engine sounds coming off from the car, I'm thinking that if somehow I could take those functions' wires out and connect where the wires originally come from the new servo. I don't even know if that'll work. You see, I don't even know which or what kind of servo to buy and if it's even compatible with the car's motherboard - that's where you come in, please give me any suggestions.
I know buying a "real" one is a better choice but I just want to enjoy the hobby. Furthermore, how does the ESC really work. You know how the throttle on those electric RC car transmitter look like, they're completely different from the plane ones -it's either forward or reverse. But I think I have a way to deal with that. But if you think you have a better idea, just blurt it out. Anyways, can the ESC work with any motherboards? The bottom line is, can I just connect it or solder it to the motherboard?