Ed Huntress wrote:

Actually, I was thinking of products from the '50s or earlier, if anyone
can remember?



Eh, eh. ...well, sonny...let's see here, by cracky...scratch, scratch,
spit...

Well, there were Bache Browne spinning reels. They were very expensive
(early reels of the type) but they had thin line fingers made of stainless
that would wear completely through in a couple of years of heavy use. Bad
design, not thought through.

Reminds me of a design Nikon had for potentiometers in some of their pro
cameras. Eventually they fixed it, but oddly enough, not on the most
expensive model at the time.

There were Mitchell-Garcia spinning reels (see what I was doing in the '50s?
g). The big ones were not cheap. They had copper teeth on their drags that
would strip off when you hooked a big fish. I wound up bringing in a
27-pound king mackerel hand-over-hand. Bad design, thoughtless use of
materials.

There were Winchester single-barrel shotguns. I went through two of them in
two weeks. Their barrels were brass-brazed, badly, onto the locking lugs.
They'd break off when you shot them, with the barrel then landing on the
ground. ****-poor process and quality control.

Does the barrel travel through your face before landing on the ground? :-)

Stainless kitchen cutlery from the 50s -- even the expensive stuff. It was
made of 18-8 (300 Series) steel, which is too soft to hold an edge. Poor
choice, or availability, of materials.

All of the little bellcranks on a piano I owned. Expensive piano, crappy
plastic. Every one of the bellcranks cracked once they deplasticized. Poor
material choice.

I wonder what process causes the change in the properties of the
plastic. Anyone know?

Most portable typewriters -- especially Italian Olivettis. Beautiful design,
but complete crap. As my repairman said, they were made of "frozen ****."

I remember a few of those. I think my parents might still have one.
Looked cool, in a lurid '60s kind of way

Radiators for most American Motors (Rambler) cars. They leaked when new.

Thanks, Ed. That's an interesting list.

Best wishes,

Chris