Agreed, they'll take you across the country and back and there should not be a fuss of it. I remember the old days when long distance and an auto-shop approached co-dependent.
I've yet to see a leak in any of my Toyotas. If my rebuild let's me down, then I won't know what it's like to have an old Chevy without one
That said, it would be very cool to put a 67-72 body on top a 300K mile drive train. Add a vintage trailer, pretty nice.