That sounds like an old school Ford. In my experience, once they hit the 1970's, 'Fix Or Repair Daily' became more than a half-clever pun. The Chevy's I've known personally are far more reliable.
I'm a Toyota guy myself, though. First car was a 1987 Camry that finally bit the dust in 2003. She was done in by a lady in a white Acura, and though the impact was hard enough to bust my water pump, my car limped back to her parking spot under her own power. There was no fixing her, and that was one of the sadder days of my life. Final odometer reading: 397,000, and I had that car in my 'dump teenager' days, so she wasn't exactly babied at first.
Currently have a Toyota Tundra. Has 190,000 or so on the odometer. Only real problem (ie: one not caused by human oopsies) is a master cylinder I just had replaced.