You've hit it, buy in the south/southwest where there's no salt used. I don't buy into the parts car idea, myself. Although any e.g. Honda from the same model

You've hit it, buy in the south/southwest where there's no salt used. I don't buy into the parts car idea, myself. Although any e.g. Honda from the same model year will share a large number of parts with any other Honda, they will still be old and worn out. New parts are readily available for most older cars if you stick with mainstream models that were sold in large numbers. If you need something significant like a transmission, you can always get one from a salvage company.