Body work is not cheap indeed! I learned that the hard way. My Nikon F looks like quite the beater, but the mechanics are just about as good as new.
For me, this makes me like the camera maybe even more because I can just pick it up, put it on the car dashboard when not using it, stow it in my coat pocket without worrying about adding a further scratch to the exterior.
In the meantime the camera let's me take pictures as much as I want.
Still, taking care of these old cameras is something that should not be taken light hearted. 60 year old precision mechanics do need to be cared for or they will fail sooner or later