Were the old days better?

[nowtelse2do]

Can you remember when we used to go out and buy a new cable for a couple of quid, fit it and be back on the road in no time ?  After reading lot's of the threads and posts on here and other forums it seems that most of the breakdowns and problems are due to Electronics trying to do what levers a cables use to do.

Electronics that cost the earth (pun intended) to buy and fit. Everything nowadays are nearly all fly by wire, (Glad Toyota don't make planes) Gearboxes that only seem to work if automatic and controlled by super dooper electric chip's, (I don't like these, sooner have Fry by batter, taste better).

Can anything actually be mended nowadays, or is it just a throw it away mentality.

Dave.

[LordThornber]

I'm not sure. I'm 45 and remember crossing fingers about "white" goods lasting.

 

Example, we bought a washing machine about 15 years ago, it cost £330 and it packed up last year. Not that long ago I'd have been flapping about the cost of a replacement. An engineer was honest enough to say it wasn't worth fixing.

 

I merely Googled today's equivalent washer and coughed up £189. Ok it could be correctly argued that if it only lasts, say, half as long then there's no saving.

 

I saw an iron in Asda the other day, price? £2

 

Martyn

[CliveH]

I was just about to say much the same as Lord T. Price of some stuff is very cheap compared to yesterday. But I do wonder if this throw away economy is what we really want?

 

Love my mobile phone with the slide out Qwerty keyboard. Hated the brick sized mobile with a suitcase for a battery. So things much improved there. Similarly with white goods.

 

But then I do prefer the idea of keeping things for longer and maintaining them - cars being the classic example. Crazy to destroy perfectly good ten year old cars for a grant so that a new car can be imported halfway across the globe and bought at a discount. I thought we were supposed to be saving the planet not using up its resources as fast as we can?

 

As for electronics - I just think it is an age thing. I can tune a pair of Stromborgs or SU's but my son has no idea. But give him the right program and a laptop and he will have a petrol or diesel engine singing - especially diesels - all by tweaking the boost and fuel pressure and a few other bits. I just do not know where to start. But the computer literate people do.

 

On one of the first computer courses I went on the tutor said that if we had a problem contact him or ask any teenager. He was right.

 

I think it is where we show our age.

 

Still say we should build things that can be repaired rather than thrown away though.

 

[nowtelse2do]

 Must agree CliveH,

Who has benefited most out of the scrap-page scheme, not the British car industry I'm sure. But we (tax payers) have subsidies a lot of far eastern countries when we could least afford it. I shouldn't put Nissan, Toyota and Honda in that group because at least they do manufacture over here. 

Give me the SU's any day. Anyone bought a ECU lately, how much was it ? Have you needed to run a wire anywhere ? probably cant be done because it will interfere with the electronics of the car, van,  unless 'sir' we can fit a new harness for you. How much? oh lets start at a couple of hundred quid and work upwards.

No, I'm afraid things aren't made to be mended nowadays, just take it of the shelf and replace it.

Martyn.

Next time you look for a washing machine, tell me please where to look, just bought one in January, engineers have been out to it twice already.

Dave

[davenewellhome]

I just love threads like this:

 

"my old morris minor could be repaired at the roadside with a pair of my wife's tights and a tweak of the points". Very true, but was it really necessary to do it so bloody often?

 

SU carbs, wonderfully simple but very crude compared to modern EFI systems. If they were so great why did they constantly need to be fettled to maintain their performance and can they meat modern day emissions requirements? I don't think so.

 

Mechanical diesel injection systems, ultra reliable and can often run on any old rubbish but goodness me aren't those engines rough by comparison with today's offerings?..............Oh yes, slow too!

 

I frequently see postings asking about chip tuning to increase the power of modern common rail diesels that give 100+BHP as standard but their old counterparts, often at least 25% larger in capacity frequently gave less than 100BHP and the only option was to change down a gear.

 

Now just explain to me again why all this modern techno stuff is so bad?

 

D. :D

[nowtelse2do]

Dave,

No fun in it :-D  and can't repair them unless I have a garage like yours with all the electronic equipment that is needed. As for emissions another stealth tax I'm afraid *-)

Dave

Dave

[mad mac]

I have to agree with Mr Newell. Today's engines are far more efficient, and run better for longer. It's just that when they do go wrong, you have to have the right diagnostic equipment.I know I would rather have one of the new generation diesels than one of the older lumps.

[davenewellhome]

nowtelse2do - 2010-03-20 9:04 PM

Dave,

No fun in it :-D  and can't repair them unless I have a garage like yours with all the electronic equipment that is needed. As for emissions another stealth tax I'm afraid *-)

Dave

Dave

Where was the fun in trying to persuade your loved one that she really needs to take her tights off just so you can make a temporary fan belt out of them on a dark and wet saturday night when you were supposed to be out courting?Where was the fun in fiddling about under the bonnet trying to diagnose a misfire in the cold and dark and rain on the side of a busy road?Where was the fun in having to crawl under the rear of your old Morris to clout the electric fuel pump to get it going again? Oh yes that would usually happen in the dark and wet when you'd got your best gear on too.OK so when a modern motor breaks down there's five eighths of bugger all that you can do, so you phone your breakdown service and put the kettle on :-> .D.

[nowtelse2do]

davenewell@home - 2010-03-21 9:48 AM

nowtelse2do - 2010-03-20 9:04 PM

Dave,

No fun in it :-D  and can't repair them unless I have a garage like yours with all the electronic equipment that is needed. As for emissions another stealth tax I'm afraid *-)

Dave

Dave

Where was the fun in trying to persuade your loved one that she really needs to take her tights off just so you can make a temporary fan belt out of them on a dark and wet saturday night when you were supposed to be out courting? Where was the fun in fiddling about under the bonnet trying to diagnose a misfire in the cold and dark and rain on the side of a busy road? Where was the fun in having to crawl under the rear of your old Morris to clout the electric fuel pump to get it going again? Oh yes that would usually happen in the dark and wet when you'd got your best gear on too. OK so when a modern motor breaks down there's five eighths of bugger all that you can do, so you phone your breakdown service and put the kettle on :-> . D.

Dave,

Unfortunately for you, you had to go through the ordeal of getting her tights off, my pleasure was taking off her nylons, much more sensual :-D

I agree about a breakdown, no pleasure at all on a dark & wet night, but that wasn't very often if you regularly serviced and kept on top of them (we are talking cars here now I hope ) :D and you nearly always got home on your own ingenuity. You just can't do that nowadays, you need someone like you with all the latest gizmo,s to plug in and get it re-booted or whatever.

And yes, if I couldn't fix it, it was a call to the AA or RAC if you could find a telephone box. Now this was the best bit, back to the car for a couple of hours, you had already got one of her nylons off, 'you were almost there'

It is impossible to disagree with you on the reliability and efficiency of today's vehicles, but next time you go to a travelling fair or a steam rally, see how many 6LW Gardner engines are powering the The exhibits.

You yourself like tinkering with cars and the question  I asked was, Were the old days better? it was a bit of tongue the in cheek question, but the recycling bit is not new, I can still get parts for my cars which are mostly used but with still quite a few spares that are new.

One last point. My right arm is about 2" longer than my left one, thanks to those Mobile suitcase battery phones, 'or was it trying to get the other nylon off' can't remember now, Oh sod it call the AA :D

Dave  

 

[GJH]

On a slightly different tack, there can be a tendency these days to opt for a new (or extra) tool instead of bothering to find out if an existing one has the capability.

 

I recall an incident in the late 1990s following local government reorganisation. Merging of staff from different authorities into a new department meant that there were a number of different software products in use. One day we (IT) had a call saying that a department had a problem because some staff were using MS Office for word processing and others were using Lotus Smartsuite.

 

A company they had dealt with previously had recommended that they install MS office on all PCs (bought from that company, naturally) - so, as all software orders had to go through IT, could we please get on and order it. Instead I went out to look at what they were actually doing and found that the word processing was pretty basic - all they had to do was save files in .rtf format and they could be processed by Office or Smartsuite.

 

I don't think the company was all that pleased but it saved a fair bit of cash at the time :-)

 

Graham

[nowtelse2do]

Well, there you are then, a bit of tinkering, no call out charges or contact with the recovery people. Did you manage to get the tights off the nearest secretary Graham, and did it help  or did you get re-booted in the Dongles :D

Dave

[GJH]

nowtelse2do - 2010-03-21 12:01 PM

Well, there you are then, a bit of tinkering, no call out charges or contact with the recovery people. Did you manage to get the tights off the nearest secretary Graham, and did it help  or did you get re-booted in the Dongles :D

Dave

As a respectable married man I kept my mind on the job, not my hands (lol) (lol) Graham

[Guest peter]

I agree with Dave Newell about those bloody SU carbs. Great and responsive when running right but a pain in the rear end when not.

I had a MK2 Jag' with them and the hours I had to spend with a piece of plastic tubing stuck in my ear trying to balance them was no joke.

Give me common rail injection every time.

[davenewellhome]

Ever tried setting up twin SUs up on a Rover P6? Front carb has to "lead" by (from memory) 20 thou on throttle opening so balancing with the rubber tube goes out the window :-S . I used to set up my mates twin Strombergs on his Triumph 2000 banger racecar, saldy I couldn't do anything for his talent (or lack of) as a race driver.

 

D.

[GypsyTom]

Ah, you can't beat the old days. A night at the flicks, 10 pints of Thwaites's best mild, which is a cross between dandelion and burdock and nectar then fish chips and peas at Effin Elsie's chip shop. Before going to the flicks you could buy a stone of monkey nuts, order a suit from Burton's The Tailors and, at the end of the night, still have change from half a crown.

But you try telling that to the youngsters today!

[nowtelse2do]

 Bloody Hell Tom..!! I thought I was old, but I can't remember silent flicks :-D  must agree about Thwaites beer though. You must be from my neck of the woods then, or know it well, probably one of the best ales around here along with Massey's of Burnley.

Dave

[kelly58]

In the late 70s and early 80s when I started lorry driving once I remember walking along the verge of the M62 to find a bit of wire to fix a broken throttle linkage to get to my destination and on another ocassion getting back to the yard with a broken front leaf spring and working all night to fix it so as I could get back on the road 1st thing in the morning to get my load delivered . Not many of to-days modern lorry driver would know how or even try to get them selves going again if in trouble. 

[George Collings]

Cars are much better. I started on 30 year old cars in the 1960s but I still hate the fact that if the electronics give up on the road I cannot sort it myself.

 

Improvisation- how about this one. About 15 years ago out with friends in their Sierra 4X4 in darkest Somerset and it stopped. No sound of the fuel injection pump in the boot running and after a bit of splashing wires to earth looking for sparks decided that the pump relay had died.

 

Sparks were availiable adjacent to the pump from the rear lights but were had no spare wire.

 

I rooted about in the hedge and found a lenght of thick galvanised fencing wire and cut it to suit with a lump of scrap metal against a metal post. Of course it was uninsulated with a danger of shorting to earth. and no means of making reliable connections. We managed to make it ten miles back to civilisation with me in the boot holding the wire clear of the floor and poking into the connections.

 

My Focus is ten years old , basically its very reliable but the gremlins have just started to nest. Erattic speedo and centralised locking so far. The learning never stops. Wish me luck

 

 

[malc d]

I don't regard the old days as 'better' but they were certainly more of an adventure.

 

When touring / camping we had a box of spares in the boot, plugs, belts, gaskets and even a spare fuel pump. Plus of course spare inner tubes, a set of tyre levers and a puncture outfit.

 

When touring on the continent the amount of currency that you took out of GB was limited, there were no plastic cards, we used to get a sticker from the RAC showing continental road signs, and you often had to queue at border crossings.

 

Much more of an adventure - but 'better' ?

 

Maybe I'm just getting old but I think I prefer it easy, like it is now.

 

 

;-)

[Syd]

What about the moral standards of the nation now and then ?

Were they higher in the old days

[Mel B]

Today - pet passports

 

Yester-year - 6 months quarrantine.

 

No competition ... much better now ... and my dogs made me say that!!! :D

[nowtelse2do]

Mel B - 2010-04-02 6:12 PM Today - pet passports Yester-year - 6 months quarrantine. No competition ... much better now ... and my dogs made me say that!!! :D

Yester year........Rabies!!  Now injections, so yes, better now. :-)

Dave

[nowtelse2do]

Syd - 2010-04-02 3:56 PM What about the moral standards of the nation now and then ? Were they higher in the old days

Definitely.  But what else can we expect nowadays when most of our so called leaders are morally corrupt :-(

Dave

[Mel B]

I suspect that some of our 'leaders' were morally corrupt then ... we just didn't hear about it so much! :-S

[GJH]

nowtelse2do - 2010-04-02 6:26 PM

Syd - 2010-04-02 3:56 PM What about the moral standards of the nation now and then ? Were they higher in the old days

Definitely.  But what else can we expect nowadays when most of our so called leaders are morally corrupt :-(

Dave

Doesn't it depend which "old days" one picks? The moral standards depicted by Hogarth, for example, weren't all that high :-) Graham