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1. I have had no problem getting folks to properly fix and rebuild transmissions.

Must be nice living in an area where everybody drives 1950s cars... The newer ones are all but impossible to work on and pretty nearly nobody does, they just replace them at large cost. Toyota automatics are nearly bulletproof but nobody else could claim that. I have relatives in the wholesale auto trade and they actually do have one guy who can fix most of what's out there now but the guy's basically amongst the last of a dying breed.

Must be nice living in an area where everybody drives 1950s cars

There are plenty of '60's cars for show (salt usage makes it a crime to use them as year round drivers). What we don't have are a lot of foreign marques (Toyota, Honda). So the transmissions might just be not quite as bullet proof; but maybe Ford Aerostar and Mercury Grand Marquis transmissions are easier to repair than their Odyssey and Avalon counterparts. We are close to the Belvedere, IL Chrysler Plant (Compass/Calibre), and for many decades the Janesville, WI GM plant (Suburbans). Combine that with the general manufacturing/machining bent of the area, (Hamilton Sunstrand, Textron) and you have a lot of guys who can rebuild anything. Of course, if the whole innards are worn out, a complete rebuild is called for anyway. The Ford Windstars were HORRIBLE for trannies dying at 80,000 miles.

http://www.atra.com/

Automatic Transmission Re-builders Association. Transmissions are still worked on and rebuilt

http://www.piertransmission.com/ here is a transmission shop I have known about for 24+ years. Excellent reputation in that area