We all know, or should know, all our older 200s-240s-etc, have a spirit. The spirit of each brick has it's on personality. We treat our brick well so our live-in spirit treats us well. No, not perfect, just well. At 260k miles I can see there’s a lot of good miles ahead, thanks to that spirit..

What I want, and wife wants, is to be able to hop into he brick, turn the key and off we go wether it’s a short rip to the grocery store or a trip to Yosemite. That’s about all we ask. We have no plans to drive cross country,at least not yet.

I mentioned I have kept receipts and that I have done. I don’t have every single little receipt , tho I sometimes wish I had kept receipts for say a small pack of fuses I bought to have on hand. I do have all major receipts and actually I do have some “small’ receipts. The receipts show a history of care. I don’t keep the receipts for the gas I put in the tank, maybe I should? I have a large folder, a very thick folder, laden with parts recipts and reciepts for repairs, tests, etc.

One other thing I added shortly after we procured the wagon, I found a nice retractable tarp for the cargo area on Ebay which I really like esp since our wagons dont have a trunk. It was an easy install.

Btw, I always use premium gas tho maybe I dont need to , but it's what I use. Oh, here’s an “oddity” sort of: I disconnected the windshield washer, due to the fact I dont want any windshield solvent dripping down on the fairly new paint job and possibly leaving streaks.

So far that has not been any real problem. I imagine if I were driving in a dust storm I might want that working again. But, the reality is we don’t drive all that much, average about 8k-9k a year and about 50% of that is freeway driving as I drive wife to work and pick her up. (Im retired, she still works, so far.)

I am reading each post here and I appreciate everything that’s been said. Thank you. Its nice to see different thoughts and views. There is one thing I would like to add in my “bucket list”, and that depends only if I win a large Lotto jackpot, Id get a another 240 brick (wagon), a diesel, as the diesels aren’t required to be smogged, and Id have a small block 5L Chevvy V8 under the hood. Just for “fun”.

Fun and the thrill of seeing red and blue lights behind me trying to catch up, and the thrill of the smiling policeman asking me “where's the fire?” Been a really LONG time since ive had that experience. Hehe.

Wife says I’ll never grow up; its uncanny how well she knows me, and after only 35 years of being together and raising a couple kids. Ah well. Seems the older I get the more I want to be younger. Is that “normal”?

Anyway, a sincere thanks for ALL your input here. I think its been a “fun thread”.