Originally Posted by
KD5NRH
I've had more than a few older cars, and what I tend to find is that there are basically two extremes of people who own them; the "fix it one piece at a time as it breaks" and the "never fix it, just run it until it can't run anymore."
It makes some cheap repairs cost more at the moment, but in the long run, it's cheaper than payments on a new car. I think the most I've spent in a single month on the last 2-3 cars was about $450.
Dependson the car (both model and individual car.) Depends on what work one can do .... have a lift? Have a machine shop? have all the tools?
I wouldn't get into a 30+ year-old car just because of parts availability.
Guy I know just got a Toyota Previa van motor for a 20-year-old van for about a grand, I forget, or maybe 1600 installed (you need a lift, a come-along/engine hoist, and a bunch of know-how --- so forget me.) If you can pull a motor and install it yourself ... and keep it running ... then you are ahead of most folks.
Then as you get into more modern stuff it gets worlds more complicated ... i guess you'd have to buy a diagnostic computer eventually.
I liked cars when you could change a starter or an alternator with a couple crescent wrenches and a socket or two and a ratchet. I liked cars when you could See the alternator and the starter ... and didn't need an engine hoist to change the spark plugs.
I Could---theoretically---change the starter on my Civic. I think with jack stands, and with only removing about three major systems, i could reach it from underneath.
Friend and I changed the clutch on a Dodge slant six in the parking lot of a rooming house in bad weather. I changed the starter on a friend's car before his wedding, so he and his bride could actually go on their honeymoon. On my Civic I add gas and oil.
I plan to drive that car until they stop selling gasoline ... but if after a couple hundred K miles it needs a rebuild, I will be paying someone else.