I believe George has been having some bad luck with D-jets lately, so I can't blame him for not feeling all that kindly toward them, and I share his liking for SUs. That said, however, I got a "71 142E with an AT last year, and so far, knock on wood, the D-jet has behaved like a champ. I bought the car knowing that I was going to jettison the AT and put in an M41, and driving it for a couple of months with the AT confirmed that the AT wasn't something I was going to enjoy living with. So, if you have to have an automatic, get a different car. I would only buy an automatic 140 with the intention of swapping in a manual tranny if the car were extraordinarily cheap and in exceptionally fine condition, or if it were a fairly rare model, like a "71 142E, and I desperately needed a project to get me through a long winter -- my opiniated $.02.
Bob S.