Mark Jerde wrote:
Your thoughts?

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

Nah, the drugstores all had self-service tube testers and sold tubes.
You opened your TV, put a little numbered sticker on each tube and on
each socket, and took the tubes down and tested them. They had a little
pamphlet that let you match up the symptom to the proper tube if you
didn't want to take out all the tubes.

- Automobiles needing constant maintenance. (Why was there a "Service
Station" on every corner? Hint: Cars needed *constant* service.)
- 20,000 miles on bias-ply tires was more than you could expect.

This is true. Amusingly, you still have some car owners that believe
that they need to change their oil every 3000 miles, just like back in
the days of non-detergent motor oils.

Don't forget the much more frequent plug replacement, replacing the
distributor cap, rotor, and condenser, and setting the timing and dwell.

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

At least for cars and televisions.