I feel your pain. These old cars take a lot of TLC and maintenence to keep them running well. And yes, lots of $$.

Just pretend you live in the upper midwest. Most of us have our cars tucked away for winter, and can't wait for spring when it will all be new again. (one could argue either way)

It will all work out. I'd recommend you check out some local car shows and start asking around about good mechanics. I was able to get the name of 'a friend of a friend of a friend' years ago and now can consider him 'my friend' after working on my cars a lot. He has done all of my E/T rebuilds, and after five years I've only had one small issue with something he did (which he fixed right away). So there are good people out there, you just need to find them via word of mouth.