Its been my personal experience that the early 70s Fords/GMs were still good cars... some of them. I have had several early 70s GM full-size cars that have been very reliable. The past 10 years I have owned my 73' Pontiac Grand Ville, all I have ever had to do it is rebuild the alternator and that was like $20.00. Try that on a Mercedes.

Also, in comparison to early 70s Mercedes, I would say they were up to par. I see alot of ragged out early 70s Mercedes.