Mark Jerde wrote:

I recall the 1960's:
- TVs going out until a repairman with a bunch of tubes showed up.
- Automobiles needing constant maintenance.

No they didnt.

(Why was there a "Service Station" on every corner? Hint: Cars needed *constant* service.)

And you dont need one on every corner even if they did.
Even you should have noticed that they did manage to
get further than the next corner the vast bulk of the time.

- 20,000 miles on bias-ply tires was more than you could expect.

And that is a lot more than to the next corner.

Lately, having gone over 80k miles on tires, and no service in 150k miles, it's true:

"They Don't Build Them Like They Used To -- Thank God!" ;-)