I do not buy any vehicle I cannot pay cash for. Most are not very pretty. I still have to pay out for them but repairs which are not often have to be paid for but repair payments are on MY schedule, not a bank’s. If I can’t afford it right away the car can stay in the yard for a couple of weeks and I will get to work another way. I never have any worry that my ride is going to get repossessed.
I needed a repair for an old Ford truck and my mechanic said that his shop does not now accept any car not a 2000 year model or newer. Can’t find quality parts. Most OEM secondary manufacturers went out of business because of the covid shutdown. Most pre-2000 models only have cheap Chinese knockoffs that will probably fail within 6 months. Most of the original oem parts stock has now been used up. YMMV. It’s going to get tough to keep the pre 2000’s going.