Cars that you didn’t expect to be so reliable?

We have a beat up unrestored VW Beetle from 1963 with a stock 1200 engine 6 volt electrical system. Everyone keeps telling us how weak, unreliable and high maintenance these cars are. But ours does not seem to know that. It starts easily and takes me where ever I need to go, no matter how far away it is. Things that make life interesting have of course happened during the last 12 years (that is how long I have been driving it), but there has only been two occasions where we did not manage to get going again and get home. That time the engine gave up after I don't even know how many years in service. I found another running 1200 engine not too far away that I paid the equivalent of 250 USD for. The process of leaving home, getting the new engine, taking the old one out of the car, putting the new one in and starting it up took less than 4 hours. The second time the clutch cable snapped when the lady in the house drove it to work. That time she had a meeting after work and I repaired it in the parking lot outside of her workplace. It was working again 5 minutes after the meeting was over. I can do all the maintenance and repairs myself as a self taught idiot, and parts are cheap and easy to find. I have been told about a 100 times from a relative that I should borrow some money and buy a newer car like they did. Because they claim it would save me money and time. But I do not agree. Our old Beetle follows traffic, and it costs virtually nothing to own, drive and maintain.