Modern cars are superior transportation modules. Every year, the engineers
strive to put out the best product they can for the money they think they
can get from it. There is none of this "hold it for next year" mentality,
it is more "let's get this out and let the competition sweat what to do
about it now" "Next we will worry about when the time comes". Sometimes,
this leads to embarrasing failures, as noted by many others in this thread.
Some times, the "Bean counters" succeed in taking too much of the cost out,
and it doesn't work, but it is engineers who satisfied their demands that
actually did it.
Back in the 50s, cars with 100,000 miles were limping. You could
stretch a set of factory tires 20,000 miles, brakes maybe about the same,
exhaust systems went 2 or 3 years at the most, plugs--clean every 6 months,
replace at a year, along with points, rotor, condenser, the cap and wires
didn't last all that long, either. Ball joints at 30,000 miles, tie rod
ends about the same distance. You kept an eye on the tires, because a good
hit on a pot hole would mean the alignment needed attention. Upholstery--on
the way home from the dealer, you either put on a set of seat coves, or
about 25,000 miles you installed a set to cover the hole developing in the
driver's seat. 50 years later, a car with 100,000 miles probably still has
factory installed consumable parts (plugs, plug wires, battery, alternator,
starter, etc), the first replacement tires, it may be about time for
replacement of the factory brake pads. When is the last time you saw a seat
cover store? Back in the 50s, 3 out of 4 corners of many major
intersections had a gas station, and each employeed a mechainc or 2. How
many repair shops do you see today. Most of those gas stations sell real
estate, or flowers, or candy or something other than gas. Few and far
between are gas stations with service bays. New gas stations have 20 or
more pumps, and sell food.
Today's cars are far superior as everyday transportation, but that
doesn't hold a candle if your interest is the artistry of the past,
especially if you always admired them but couldn't afford one back then.
In my opinion, there are a lot of things that have gone to pot.
Remember when music was pretty, rather than a carphonious noise much like a
chain reaction accident? Art had something to do with beauty, not
assaulting not only the senses, but sensibilities, too? Movies about the
future were bright, not dark, and about improvements in life and the ease of
living, not how crude and dank and terrible the future would be? There
actually were movies you could take your kids to, without discovering that
fidlesticks is not the strongest word in their vocabulary. Politicians
actually had ideas, and respect, rather than just being career power
grabbing backstabbers?
Unfortunately, most of our favorite cars are a throwback to a bygone
era.
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network