The reason the previous owner sold the car was that he quoted her so much for a water pump replacement that she decided to buy a new car. An aftermarket pump (if you went cheap) is $46. It took me an hour to do it.

Also, I found a few things that just scream "careless mechanic".

For instance, the water pump that was bad was clearly an aftermarket GMB unit. Yet, the thermostat was the original factory one (broken in half and nonfunctional). Now, a good mechanic would recommend a thermostat change at the same time as a pump replacement, since the cooling system is open.

Similarly, the rotten muffler that fell off had a new tailpipe on it. The PO gave me a receipt for $700 and change for replacement of the downpipe. She was under the impression that she had a "new exhaust".