I love hearing stories of individuals like yourself that love their car enough to spend time and money to repair. I find myself screaming at my ipad "nooooo!" when I read posts about individuals who have experienced a failure and just says "hell with it". I know there is always a time to say "good-bye", but personally I tend to avoid that moment as much as possible. Get it back on the road, keep it there and I'm looking forward to your "35 year" update.
What the hell...it's only money, right?