Hi, I am a newbie here and the proud owner of a '81 380 roadster, with 177,000 mi on it.
I grew up as a passenger in this beauty as a teenager when it belonged to my folks, was bought at WI Simonson in SM, brand new- so anyway it's a basically been in the same family, here on the West Coast since new back in '81. My older bro had it for a few expensive years and I bought it off him. (nice, huh?-another story) I have taken the best care I can of it- have had it maintained as much as possible. It has NEVER broken down-as they say, it has been very faithful. I am by no means wealthy but for a gal I am rather well acquainted with taking care of older cars ..but I'm at a real turning point...

Wouldn't start- brought it in to my guy, he says the "timing chain rail broke"
(- yes it has a double row timing chain)long story short: that translates to 4 bent valves, drivers side cylinder head broke off...it goes on and on -its major labor, major parts and boils down to $3500.00. Yikes!!!! Obviously I'm super attached to this car and would love to keep it for my kids some day but it is a serious gas guzzler and now this, any words of wisdom from all you SL folks out there appreciated. Many thanks, this is a great forum, sorry to ramble, but I wanted to throw out a little backstory 4 ya'll. Thanks
PS- Buttercup is the name of my car-sh'es yellow