Hello Gymnast and welcome aboard.
There are many of us who do indeed swear by our vintage machines. I've used a Remington (Japanese metal machine, not a "real" Remington early days sewing machine) that belonged to a friend's grandmother for most of the last 30 years, when my modern machine broke down.
I was given a modern fancy machine and I have to say that I love it too -- but it needs to go to the shop and the price of it's regular tune-up is more than I would typically spend on a machine... but not a machine with a 12" deep throat so it will get fixed.