Daily driving an A-body

And you think new junk don't break? the water pump went out on my 98 ranger at 20,000 miles, I was on my way to work, and called to tell them I had car problems, they said your truck ain't 6 months old, had to order the pump from the dealer, as it was too new to get at a parts store.:thebirdm: new junk.
my $.2
My current daily has been totalled out twice and getting parts for it mostly banks on junkyard looting or going to the local "5-Star" Dealer, which it cost me almost $1500 bucks to replace every component on the airbag system, and now the light is coming back on saying randomly ever few days or every other day *bing*"this part is bad, oh wait, its not!"*bing*. Don't get me wrong, the car is reliable, but damn, they stuff a computer and sensor in everhything they can nowadays just so you have to replace it for emissions. I have a friend that has a Snap-On Solace and he always runs the codes free for me, but he says, he has seen me for more codes than anyone else and all of them are the stupidest ones he heard. My engine light popped on once just to tell me "your coolant pressure isn't what it was". He reset it after we ran a series of coolant system tests and found nothing at all leaking. And if you think about when your mom and dad were my age, these cars were considered really relaible. My grandpa bought a '72 Satellite with a 383 new, custom ordered from the factory, til this day when I bring it upto him, he wishes he had a car that reliable again.8)

I mentioned this subject to one of my friend's parents and they said "My dad had a '69 Plymouth Valiant with a /6 and man, that thing would take you anywhere and wouldn't let you down." He took it cross country 7 times, now he owns a '67 Camaro and wishes he had the Valiant instead:cheers: