Bob = once-upon-a-time I had one of those flat-head Ford V-8's! It was a '46 Ford "business" coupe (no rear seat) and the engine (flat-head V-8) run as smooth as silk. I had destroyed the old '31 Chevy and the '46 was my second car. At that time Olds had come out with their "Rocket 88" and I began to try and soup-up that flat-head Ford to compete with the Olds 88 ... of course, that never happened ... the "88" would blow the doors off ANY Ford at that time (and everything else for that matter)! Anyway, that was during my hamburger and hot-rod days; later was to sell the car to another one of the hoodlum hot-rod gang and I went off to the military service. Mike = after I got home from military service, went through two or three more cars with V-8's but then met a sweet young thing and my life style seemed to change. Traded in a real gas guzzler for the new economical (brand new) '60 Ford Falcon station wagon. Had thought long and hard between buying that Falcon or going the Corvair route. Settled on the Falcon in that it was available in a station wagon model and Corvair's wagon was not out yet at the time. But I really liked the Corvair and thought they were a real nifty little car. Although going after the Corvair gave Ralph Nader a lot of notoriety, I never heard of the Corvair having the problems Mr. Nader claimed they did have. You would have thought, especially at that time, there were many other saftey risks much larger. With all the big, fast V-8's, many without even disc brakes, along with inadequate roads, makes me now wonder any of us survived that era ... especially the late 50's! Dale

Electrical rewiring is a big expense. You should get a quote so you know what you are talking about. It can run easily up to 30K or more.I am doing it right now. I would not worry much about the plaster though. If you get an electrician with experience it should not be a problem. My guy opens holes that are really small, just enough to put the snake in and I was able to close all of those myself just with plaster alone. There were rooms that he didn't even make holes and my house is very complicated with wood paneling and wood ceiling. You need somebody patient, with experience and good attitude. I tease him that he is like a surgeon. However, it takes him twice as long as expected but worth the trouble I think. Heat, depends what you put in but a "he" gas system run at about 15k in my area. Then depends how lucky you are. In my case I needed radiator work that I had absolutely not budgeted because all radiators look fine when we bought the house. Then they started leaking one by one and it became nightmare number 1 in my life.... A radiator can easily cost 400 or 900$ depends on the size.... Then there is the plumbing. You do not know before you look. Even if a bathroom appears functional does not mean it is properly plumbed. My house had all the ancient plumbing that we knew about but it had a shower installed the last couple of years which we though we do not need to redo. Guess again. When we opened the ceiling under to removed the lead pipes in horror we saw that the shower drain is done completely wrong and it is a miracle it is still going. So yes we do need to also fix the brand new shower. So again, get a plumber and poke around for a good estimate. Actually plaster work is the only one that for me it is not a concern since I can do a lot by myself and I have a few friends that are helping me. Also ceilings and walls do not bother me because I can go cheap on them for now. Somehow a plastering mistake does not bother me as much as plumbing mistake.... So the thing with the old houses is you never know how much you need before you discover all the nightmares. If things go really smooth I think 150 might be enough for the major staff assuming you do some stuff yourself. Obviously not putting up kitchens and baths but for updating major systems, painting and making the house livable with minor kitchen and bath mods. My advise: For the jobs that you can not do yourself try to get a good estimate before you buy. Make sure the guys poke around and look at everything and they are guys that worked in old house before that nothing is "standard" and you need certain degree of ingenuity to fix problems. I have no experience about brick restoration though.

They asked you to bring it in and what it would take to satisfy you, but it sounds like you're refusing to take it in. Why? I too would not use Malwart as my service center but that's your choice. I don't quite understand why now it appears you don't want to resolve it when they've approached you about it. Maybe I'm missing something or something is unsaid. As a different point: We have idiot lights now because a certain group of people couldn't read gauges. So now, instead of knowing what is happening, we know what happened. Same thing with these tire monitors. A simple glance at tires reveals a low tire if you take a few seconds to look, but few will. I habitually look at my vehicle when approaching or walking away from my vehicles. A quick once-over glance to see if there's problems. Done that for decades. I still check oil and other fluids between changes even though I don't do the oil changes myself anymore. It takes only seconds to do and you can easily forestall problems. AFAIC people should prove ability to do this in order to get a driver license. Checking lights too (head, tail, brake), is incredibly simple to do, takes essentially no time from one's scheduled and with today's poorer quality components it's more important than years past but I these days I see more people with low tires and/or lights out than I've ever seen before. Most places will check this stuff between service intervals at no charge but people are too lazy to do it. You should have it checked at normal maintenance, whether you do it yourself or take it in. That is, if the place checks things and why would a person go someplace that doesn't? Oh, that's right. Nuff said! LOL And I shake my head when I try to tell people they have a low tire or a light out, all too many (a majority of whom shall remain unspecified) get offended to the point of belligerent at being shown the courtesy of informing them they have a problem. Sorry to interrupt your phone call or texting. I've quit being frustrated about it now and now am amused. Cops love it too. They don't need probable cause to pull someone over when there's a burned out light.

Haha, lindsey, I trust you're not "so terribly sorry". I think where you live in the inland Central Valley area is much hotter in the summer and a bit colder in the winter than where I am and so the features you describe could be more useful. It doesn't matter, if you're happy with what you have, that's what's important. The phrase "hot car on a hot day" triggers memories that aren't current but rather from my childhood and teenage driving years. Air conditioning wasn't common then and a hot car stayed hot. I can't imagine how it must have been in the parts of the US that are much hotter and uncomfortable in the summer than where I was living. These days, all cars have AC and for me, driving a few blocks with the windows down to get the hot air out and get the AC running seems to work fast enough. Though not in my wife's Toyota. As with other Japanese cars she's owned, her current Toyota doesn't seem to have an AC system with as much oomph as the AC systems in German cars I've had over the years.