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forum_emoticons.html	[quote=wrenchhead,13494]The difficulty with doing serious mechanical work on anything built in the last 10-15 years or so is due to the electronic controls and extensive use of computers. They are not difficult to work on but the problem is finding the fault so you know what to fix. You can save serious money by doing your own work, even simple stuff. I can do a brake job in 2 hours or so for $25 or less and a garage will generally charge over 200. If you have an official shop manual you can do practically any repair that is required. I have been driving my MG for 10+ years and have never had it to a mechanic. I don't keep a record but I would guess that I have saved enough by working on it myelf to buy 2 of them. You do need to treat it as a hobby and you have to be willing to spend the time and get dirty. But it is a hobby that will pay for itself very rapidly even if all you can save is labor costs. The last time I looked garages in my area charge anywhere from $50 to $75 per hour for labor. This means that you can have a rewarding hobby that pays you $50 or more for the time you spend on it - a pretty good deal. Your dad gives good advice if you want to work on a car to learn. The mid to late 1970's MG and Triumph are very simple machines, do not require a lot of special tools and they are somewhat classic. The advantage (for me) of an MG is that there is a merchant in the US (Moss Motors - they have an online catalog) that sells practically anything you will ever need for MG at reasonable prices. Don't know about parts in the UK. Edit: Note that front wheel drive cars can be a real challenge. Front engine/rear drive is much, much easier and old type 1 VWs are extremely easy to work on - you can remove the engine with 4 bolts and a floor jack (or strong buddy) and carry it to the work bench. [/quote]
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MBSL65fan

Also it is good to have because where I live there a re-cycling places where you can re-cycle for money and with many large bags of bottles and cans it's convenient to have a truck bed. :wink:

MBSL65fan

It's my mom's old car. Since she has a new one and she doesn't use it anyomre she may give it to me.

G-MANN

Quote From: MBSL65fan

Likely now to be a 1999 F150. :smile:

Why would you want a pickup?

MBSL65fan

The W126 looks cheap, but the W140 doesn't really. I'd like to have a 300SD or S350D (W140) but it would be expensive to own. :ohwell:

G-MANN

Old S-Classes may look cheap, but they won't be cheap to fix and there's probably a lot of things that can go wrong on them.

crazyforcars12

Yes, there not that cheap!

Neptune

He most likely meant that you can get them for "dirt" cheap.

MBSL65fan

What do you mean? :confused:

crazyforcars12

You can pick up W140 mercs for dirt now.....

MBSL65fan

Likely now to be a 1999 F150. :smile: