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They're either incompetent, overcharging you, or some combination of both. No way it takes 40hrs to do anything you've mentioned. Any shop with competent techs can work on your car despite the fact that it's "old." If they literally can't, they're probably not a shop you want to deal with in the first place. I suggest finding an independent repair facility in the area that does general repair instead of going back to that classic car place. Talk to friends, family, neighbors, and look on facebook or other social media in your area to see who people use and if they're satisfied with them. I don't really have a preference when it comes to old or new. Sometimes the new stuff is very convenient to diagnose because everything communicates.

LEDs are omnidirectional, no backfeeding. This does create a problem if the front side markers are in that crazy "reverse polarity at night" configuration like my Regal. My solution was to put the coil from an Omron relay on the two wires, and then use the relay contacts to switch my LEDs. I had to run power and ground to both lights.