50s cars looked cool. They changed radically every model year but were mechanically not so hot. We're very jaded now. While cars cost 10X more than they did in the 50s, the amount of maintenance they require simply isn't in the same realm. There are no more "service stations" because cars simply don't need so much service.
My olds, by 60,000 miles, had a valve job, needed a trans overhaul, had a carb re-build. It had the steering box re-welded to the frame rail since that model year had a flaw that kept cracking the frame rail where the steering attached. That would have been a re-call and probably as scandal today. Plugs and points every 10,000 miles. Tires that were shot at 25,000. An entire industry around trans repairs. BTW: Cottman Transmission closed here a few months ago. They started 2 miles from my house in Philly on Cottman Ave. My dad used to say "the only thing good about the good old days was that they were old." My 69 Rambler Ambassador (that was the car I traded my hot-rod Fairlane on...worst car decision I ever made) had the radiator spring a lead at 25,000. It was the car that couldn't start in rain, fog, mist, high humidity, etc.
Nostalgia does funny things... Recirculating ball steering was imprecise. My brother in law who's 10 years older than me still drives his Acura MDX (with precise rack-and-pinion steering) by swinging the wheel this way and that because when he learned to drive, car steering wandered. You had to keep adjusting. Rack and pinion doesn't wander a bit unless your alignment is off.
Cars got 8 miles to a gallon. Sure... gas was cheaper, but the cars consumed lots and lots of it. They dieseled when you turned them off if you had any miles on them. If your distributor cap had a crack in it, try and start it when it was raining. The only thing I miss about the old cars is their audacious designs (think the 59 Caddie or Plymouth), but I don't miss what was under the skin. Those were the years when the Big 3 had effectively no competition, and the cars they made were utter crap. I Simonized the paint right off the fenders of my olds. If the door handles didn't get put on in assembly, they threw them in back seat and the dealership had to make it right.
I know I'm ranting, but the Internet tends to get folks of our age waxing nostalgic and it sometimes needs to be analyzed a bit and brought back to reality. The fact it, we're in the best age ever. We have things that filled science-fiction books (except flying cars and teleportation. Where the heck is that teleportation? That would solve the airport problem). Cars don't rust out anymore. Today, a car hitting 100,000 miles is no big deal. In 1959 it was a big deal. I have a Buick LaCrosse that drives and rides better than any car I've ever owned. Looks cool. Is extremely comfortable and gets 30 mpg at 75 mph. I'm happy to have my old cars a 1:43 and I'll try to keep from dropping them on the concrete floor.
