> Toyota. You may pay a little more for a used Toyota, but you'll get more for your money.

I agree.

Toyota and Nissan are excellent deals. Of course, I've got this impression based on the models for the European market.

> I don't trust Fords with more than about 50,000 miles and small Fords that I have rented have been miserable cars.

Maybe it depends on the fact that Ford, in Europe, relies on German technology (in fact, it's Ford GmbH), like BMW, Mercedes and Audi, but here in Europe Ford is the low-price,good-quality deal. Cars are robust as tanks, the only drawback is that engines aren't so powerful.
My actual city car, a 1992 Ford Fiesta - manual transmission, of course - has more than 150,000 kms. Except normal maintenance, I only had to replace the exhaust pipe once.

> As for that 39 year-old Rambler

...it made me remember *my* first car: my grandpa gave me his '72 Peugeot 204 when I got my driver's licence (it was 1988).
I soon discovered that a vintage car in everyday use costs *a lot*; when I had to wait two weeks for a spare clutch, I decided to swap that car for a more affordable FIAT.

Give a look to these pictures; my 204 was the white sedan (just missing the original "MI P58683" plate).