I dont know how many of you live near S Jersey, but I have really cut costs by going to U-PULL-IT yards. You really have to love these cars to go to one of these places on a Sunday afternoon wwhen you should be taking a walk with your daughter.
When i do find a good car, I take everything useable!!!
Parts I buy most often lately as my cars head to 300K:

AC Compressor (Believe it or not I have had a luck of with Pep Boys Compressors--they are good!!)
Wheel Bearings
Brake Pads
Trim and Interior Parts
a. Seats
b. Carpet
Shocks
Timing Chain rebuild kits

I am always under my hood, thats how I always know the condition of my car and feel safe driving it even cross country



http://mywebpages.comcast.net/rtc9/BENZ.html

I like going there to see how my car is put together. I look for one thats been mostly dissasembeled, and look at stuff like sunroofs and dashboards.

I go one better, I buy a whole parts car. Last one I bought, I'm still driving even though I removed a few parts.

P E H

Last time I was at a You Pull junkyard it was 'get everything you can carry for $25 day'. You had to carry the stuff about 20 feet between two white lines. In Denver we have a lot of poor but very resourceful immigrants. One guy had a four by four about 6 feet long. He would attach parts to either end by rope, including engine blocks, radiators, starters etc. He would get the weights balanced (hundreds of pounds) and then get under the center of the 4x4 and stagger the 20 feet to the finish line. That was about the best $25 auto parts value I've ever seen.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13