Your problem (and mine, too) is that you’re shopping for quality in a marketplace where most people shop for the lowest selling price. These people don’t care, or perhaps don’t understand, that paying more up front will result in a lower overall cost in the long run. Some people think short term, some think long term.
I’m reminded of when one of my favorite bra makers switched from using metal rings to plastic. Metal rings are painted, and the paint will wear off. Plastic rings stay the same color, and cost less, and they’ll break, whereas the metal rings will last longer than the bra elastic.
Kitchen knives are made of stainless steel because they’re expected to be frequently wet or exposed to high-acid foods like tomatoes. Stainless is more corrosion resistant but much softer than non-food knives like your uncle’s skinning knife. A hard steel knife will serve beautifully provided you keep it clean and dry.
Reflecting that cars last longer these days, warranties have markedly improved over the years. If you’d asked a new car salesman in the 1950s for a four-year, 50,000 mile basic warranty (and longer on the powertrain) he’d have been rolling on the floor with laughter.
And current corrosion warranties commonly last at least six years/100,000 miles, so I’m not buying the “cars today rust out sooner” argument.
this. in addition to the improvements in corrosion treatments, a really big part of the reason cars don’t rust very quickly is proper drainage. newer design and simulation tools mean engineers can eliminate crevices and cavities where water and salty muck can collect and get stuck.
up through the '70s, cars in snow states would start rusting through within 2-3 years (my dad’s '73 Cougar had holes in the trunk floor and quarter panels by 1977.)
Anyone who thinks cars were better built and more reliable back in the “olden days” is clearly delusional.
You get what you pay for, but I think there are more options on what you can pay for within a given category.
If we use wrenches as a category, there are at least 3 major tiers these days- the Snap-On/Mac/Cornwell, the Craftsman/Kobalt/Husky, and the Harbor Freight/No-name cheap Chinese wrenches.
I suspect that back in the day, it was more like 1 category for the average consumer, and that tier was the Craftsman/Kobalt/Husky one, and may have been marginally better made than today’s.
Oh, and whoever said that Kenmore stuff isn’t the same… that’s because it never is. Kenmore just rebrands some other major appliance manufacturer’s stuff, so depending on when you bought it, it may have been a Maytag, a Frigidaire, or a Whirlpool under the hood (so to speak).
That’s only true for parts of your house. Mine was build in 1928, and some of it is worse than a modern replacement (ceramic sewer pipe had to be replaced and was found to be essentially gone) but some of it you wouldn’t be able to afford even if you could find, like the old grown hardwood window sills. We get almost no noise from the road out front even though the windows are original because the walls are much, much sturdier than any new construction I’ve been in. The interior doors are all solid oak.
Every time I see discussions like this, I immediately think of the stapler. In the olden days you could use those things as a hammer; nowadays they’re just cheap plastic imitations of the original.
I think one of the main reasons things “aren’t made like they used to” comes down to two words: Planned Obsolescence.
I live in New England too and they speak the truth. New cars today just don’t rust much, if at all, and that is completely different than cars made say 20 years ago. I have never had a rust problem despite keep my vehicles outside all the time and not taking any particular care to wash the salt off in the winter. I usually keep my vehicles for about 10 years.
Staplers aren’t hammers though and shouldn’t be judged based on the ability to serve as one. Those old staplers were durable but didn’t always do their job as a stapler that well. They tended to jam a lot. You can find cheap staplers today that aren’t worth anything but you can also buy greatly improved versions for sale like this highly ranked design.
Yes, you can certainly buy hi quality stuff today-it just costs more. My point is that the Chinese have perfected the art of making stuff cheap-it is up to you to decide if it makes sense to pay for higher quality. The labor to replace a faucet runs a bout $120.00-so should you install a $26.00 faucet? Maybe spending more wold make sense.
My experience is with pickup trucks between 1990-2000 in upstate NY, and I assure you that rust is a HUGE issue. Try looking for a pickup from that time frame in this area and you will be horrified at what you see.
I am curious what happens to the newest vehicles after the 10 year time frame you mention. I readily agree that the newer technology certainly outperforms the old by a wide margin in the short term. But what happens 20 -25 years down the road when all the sensors, computer chips, and factory quick connect parts have been beaten down by a multitude of winters? They become a nightmare to fix. It is at this point that the older vehicles perform better. Thick steel, easily repaired parts. Not a data point that most people will encounter, but I have seen it many times.
I agree with you, Enright3. In a society based on capitalism things have to break. And the sooner the better. People who make them need to feed their families.
Buildings - have you seen what those old stone masons could do? Awesome. Now a building is obsolete within a number of decades and torn down. Our town is in the process of buying $35,000 sculptures to beautify areas in which beautiful buildings used to stand.
I am skeptical that everything from the past that lasted longer cost as much of a percentage of a family’s income as high quality items do today. No farm family in the thirties would have paid a high price for a kitchen clock. They couldn’t have afforded to do so. Automobiles, perhaps. But many other items were inexpensive but not “cheap crap.”
My family’s ancestors were immigrants, and of humble circumstances, but the items I have from them were not only made to last but made with a craftsmanship which is lacking in today’s cooky cutter items.
It may be worth mentioning that among them they were able to make many of the items they needed themselves. So, of course they wanted to put their best work into them. Technology has made that difficult or impossible for the average family.
New cars are better than old cars in almost every respect. This includes safety, performance, efficiency, and reliability. Not only is rust less of a problem, but when was the last time you waxed your car? When was the last time you had to have your car repainted? Both of these were common occurrences before the 1980s. The clearcoat has made our lives so much easier, yet it is something we take for granted.
My current car (2004 Subaru Outback) is 9 years old, has 138,000 miles on it, not a spec of rust, and the only major repairs have been a CV joint and axle due to a torn boot and a new exhaust system. I fully expect to get 200,000 miles out of it, and most people could do the same if they wanted to.
My first car (1979 Chevy Impala) made it to 120,000 miles with some rust, but problems were accumulating and the engine burned oil. Granted it had been in an accident a few years earlier, but it was still on the way out. Cars used to have lots more problems, required lots more maintenance, performed poorer, were less efficient, and polluted more.
Cars didn’t make it 20-25 years except for rare exceptions. Those were babied or restored. Most died uneventful deaths due to rust, mechanical breakage, or engine failure long before that.
Yep. I don’t think people realize how little attention cars require anymore. No carburetor to adjust, no points to burn out every 10,000 miles, no spark plugs eroded or fouled every 10,000 miles, no cap and rotor to change, no need to adjust timing, no choke to go out of whack, no bias-ply marshmallow tires to blow out every 8,000 miles, and so on. Cars back then were junk.
Agreed. We own a 2003 Subaru Outback with 205,000 miles, and a 2004 Toyota 4Runner with 187,000 miles. Neither has any rust to speak of, and both run fine. The Subaru has has a few issues over the years, including torn front CV boots (replaced twice), and some leaking engine seals, but nothing major. The Toyota has been virtually flawless: one of the door lock actuators had to be replaced, and routine maintenance–that’s it.
Both of these vehicles have lasted about twice as long as any vehicle I’ve ever owned before.
I looked up when I read this just so I could see my father’s old Pilot 402-B (mine has no rust). Works just fine. I still have his corded power drill (it looks like this) too. And I won’t even talk about the piers in that “wooden tool box” that is pre-WW2 and appears to have been made on an anvil.
And works just fine.
