Old Thorens TD 145 vs. todays gear


I bought my wife a TD 145 back in 1977 as her first real turntable.

Needless to say i've been through a lot of gear since then but she is adamant about never getting rid of anything that still works...and this does...

...but i was wondering if anyone had any real comparison of that vintage table to any of todays comparable tables.. like the music hall series, or the Rega's

I'm thinking about putting a modern cartridge onto it and bringing it back into service. I have a Lukaschek pp-1 I could use...and i'm driving Wilson sophias with a Krell 400xi.

So i guesss three things:

1) how does this TD 145 compare to current $500-1k tables?

2.) What cartridge would be a good match?

3.) Are there any reasonable tweaks that provide a significant improvement without loss of features (this has the auto arm lift mechanism)
objective1
I had a thorens 145, and it certainly beat My Project 2.1. I was using a Denon Dl 160 with it and it sounded great. However, it also sounded very good with the cheaper Shure m97xe, but better with the Denon.
Forgot to mention that adding a 3/4 mdf base instead of the fiberboard was a cheap improvement. I also ordered leveling spikes from parts express. For $30 they are an easy way to level this table. Check out http://www.theanalogdept.com/ for more tweaks. Look in the area for the TD 160. Same table but without auto lift.
Yup thanx for that pointer... since posting this question originally i have been walking through that site... This looks like a fun project...

Guess i'm still looking for some cartridge reco's.. thinking Benz, or other mm options.. Thinking that MC cartridges are probably not a good match.