[mr48chev]

I just pulled the starter out of the 71 because it was dragging. For a little over six dollars I bought a pair of bushings and I had the brushes left over from a previous rebuild where I didn't need brushes. Total outlay about 12 bucks and an hours time outside of chasing parts.
I just sent a Mazda to the wrecking yard with a starter I paid around 100 bucks a couple of months before along with a set of struts that ended up costing me about 500 when it was all said and done because of the extra parts and alignment required.

Four shocks on the truck were less than 100 bucks and an hours time out in the driveway changing all four.

One of my coworkers can't comprehend why I would want to drive the 71 instead of going into debt for a late model truck. He can't haul as much with his three year old truck as I can and has had repair bills in the last year that were more than what I have in mine total.
Right now I'm looking at replacing a front axle in my front wheel daily driver. About 70 bucks with a discount for the part and at least two hours of serious work out here in the driveway without a hoist to work on. Changing U joints in the truck would cost about 30 bucks for all three and probably an hour or so of fairly easy work to get done.

I'll have to admit though that if I had had the means to buy a new truck when the starter acted up in the big middle of down town Seattle when we were coming back from vacation with the sailboat on the trailer on the back I would have made my way to the dealer for a new or late model Duramax.