Thanks all!
I always figure we are the sum of our experiences, both good or bad. Are there things I could have and maybe even should have done differently? Probably, but by undoing those experiences the whole fabric of who you are unravels. It's entirely possible that if I did purchase an LBC at an earlier point in my life, I may not have had the patience or the skill set to deal with the idiosyncrasies that owning these cars involves and given up on them.
I was fortunate enough not only to roll the dice on a car that I knew relatively little about, but to have a seller like Larry (longbridgehealey) who cared enough about the car he was selling to make sure that I was plugged into the LBC community in general and the BCF in particular. I thank all of you for answering any question I have no matter how simplistic or complex.