I suspect that some of you can recollect the terrible state a lot of cars were in before the introduction of the MOT. In the 50s I was a car mad little boy who knew every car in his street and a bit further. Some from before the war were commonly seen with heavily rusted panels, bald tyres and string holding all sorts together. No doubt the mechanical condition was little better. These cars disappeared very quickly once the MOT came in. The new cars also rusted very quickly. Paint technology lagged behind and rust blisters could appear within months of buying a new car. Remember BMCs rusting sub frames, Vauxhall wings and Lancia's disaster of a car that they stopped selling in the UK.
As a traffic cop in the 70's vehicles in a dangerous condition were my staple work.
Vehicle Production has changed greatly. Look around and you will see cars of 10 years still looking good with no obvious sign of what really kills a car...Rust. It is now computerised engine management systems under the bonnet. So no spending Sunday morning with feeler gauges and a screwdriver adjusting those bothersome points and carburettor settings. Too some it was fun but to me it was a pain. On picking up new cars in recent times I have been shown the oil and water checks and been told not to touch anything else as modern engines are not customer friendly.Cars break down less but do cost more to fix. Lets face it, you cannot buy balls of string from Woolworths anymore.
My first car had to be seviced every 3,000 miles. My last car was serviced every 10,000.
