OK, I'll 'fess up that I've only read three posts in this thread so far. I have an excuse; I'm at work. But I can't resist weighing in on this.

It had to percolate in my brain for a day.

For me, a major part of the brickster thrill is that by many accounts, these cars shouldn't be serviceable any more. Yet they are so well conceived that they actually can be seen as an excellent option, and for many of us the only option.

This suits my somewhat argumentative personality. The standard answer to "what should I drive?" is "go spend $15-20 thousand on a 4WD thing from Japan or more money on one from Europe". I can argue back that you can spend 1/10 of that or less and be in very good shape.

The 240s on the road now are 13 to 25+ years old.
First made in '75, the technology is basically from the late '60s and early '70s, lots of it probably older than that.
By now they should be hopelessly outdated, rusted out and worn out.
But they're not.

Give one of these cars a reasonable amount of attention to maintenance and it will serve you as well or better than a modern one, at a fraction of the cost.

The satisfaction in beating the system is what keeps me in the game.

--
Sven: '89 245 NA, 951 ECU, open-front airbox, E-fan, 205/65-15's, IPD sways, E-Codes, amber front corner reflectors. Wifemobile '89 245 NA stock. 90 244 NA spare, runs.