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American cars are pretty hit and miss for reliability. My dad had a '90 Sable. Popped a head gasket at 95k miles (good ol' 3.8), within about the next 10k miles everything that could break did. Power steering pump, water pump, fuel pump, starter, auto climate controller, speed sensor, etc. Then it started making an ominous loud clanking sound when it was started and occasionally on a 2-1 downshift. My theory is that the torque converter ballooned and messed up the crankshaft thrust bearings, because the ends of the flywheel bolts were all smashed up.
My dad's '90 Ranger was pretty decent until the heads on its 2.9 V6 cracked at 60k miles, which leaked coolant into the oil and killed the bearings over the next 5k miles until it had no oil pressure to the top end.
On the other hand I beat the hell out of my '88 T-bird on a daily basis. I have the boost cranked up to 18 psi, shift at redline all the time, etc, etc. 105k miles on original everything including turbo, and it just won't die.
A friend of mine has 220k miles on his '86 Buick Riviera. Only time it ever left him stranded in the 100k miles he's had it was when he thought the engine lost oil pressure, but it turned out to be water getting in the sending unit connector. He had a few other Rivs, they were just as good.
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