Here in the Northeast the problem with old cars is that they get eaten away from rust due to road salt (and to a degree, ocean salt air for those near the coast), even when you try to wash it off after storms and such. We have had so many issues from it. A family member was also a mechanic for over forty years and he regularly complained about it, and often worked with welding things back together over and over, etc., but sometimes things get past the point of no return. He was training a younger mechanic once and gave him an old station wagon. Kid went to town fixing it up to the point it looked pretty nice and refinished and he was using it for his main car. Until oops, there goes the frame from rot! RIP. We had an eleven year old car ourselves that two years ago was shaking on the highway. Brought it in and turned out the engine cradle (the platform the engine sits on, as I understand it) was hanging on by a thread, being all rusted out. The engine could’ve fallen out. We authorized the repair, which was quite pricey, then held our breath until we finally traded it in earlier this year. There have been so many problems like that in cars here, they often don’t last a super long time.