my problem is i never throw ANYTHING away.
i have three minivans stashed at my buddy's junkyard i can pick parts from to keep my 99 "bus" running till i croak.
it ain't pretty, but i don't care. it gets oiled up every year, so it ain't rusty, but the drawback to that is it's kind of "slimy" to do regular maintenance on.
i have a ton of parts on the shelf for it like starters, alternators, sensors, PCM's, etc. so if something happens, i can fix it quickly.
my motto is : "if you have it, you won't need it."