Sounds like typical maintenance items to me, not a sign that the car was unworthy in some way
To get 102K out of your front brakes sounds pretty reasonable.
As for the axles . . . cv axleshafts, I presume . . . yeah, 102K is a a little soon, considering they were only a few years old. But again, I don’t feel it is indicative of anything
And the muffler . . . rusted out, I presume? Might not be atypical, given the car’s location
I think the designers could do a better job of making parts more accessible, I had to pull my front wheel and alternator to replace a thermostat. For warranty repairs it would seem a no brainer, the less time involved in common repairs the less money spent. Our mechanic was talking about some repairs, forget which that cannot be done unless you pull the cab off.
Back in 1957, Studebaker came out with a stripped down version of its Champion model and called this model the Scotsman. While it wasn’t a great seller, Studebaker sold twice as many Scotsman models as it’s bean counters had predicted would be sold and.m slowed down the flow of red ink. This allowed Studebaker time to develop its Lark model which was profitable. 1957 was a recession period for the U.S. so the Scotsman may have been the right car for the time. The option list for the Scotsman was short. An automatic transmission was not available, nor was a radio. One had to have an aftermarket radio installed if one wanted sound.The car had a hand choke, painted hubcaps, a simple recirculating heater and a flathead 6 cylinder engine. The only options were a Borg Warner overdrive, a limited slip differential, electric instead of vacuum wipers and a passenger side sun visor. It only came in three colors–green, blue and grey. Even as a teenager, I appreciated its simplicity.
During that time period, I used to hang out at the DeSoto/Plymouth dealer. The dealer, in 1958, had taken in on trade a 1958 bottom of the line strippo Chevrolet and a strippo 1958 Rambler. Both cars had been purchased by people who wanted to save money. Both cars had less than 5000 miles and both cars had been traded for top of the line 1958 DeSotos.
A different car, for a different time
I doubt the modern equivalent of such a no-frills car is what most US buyers want . . . in today’s times
@db4690 Yes, most buyers didn’t want them during the recession in 1i957-58. The VW Beetle did take off at the time. I.would argue, however, that the.VW Beetle didn’t look cheap like the.U.S. manufacturers strippo models. The fit and finish was top.quality and the VW Beetles did have a.passenger side.sun visor.
Interesting comments. It appears I’ll be visiting my local auto parts store more than my new car dealerships.
+1
When my brother brought his brandy-new '64 Beetle home, we all marveled at a paint finish that was far superior to what was churned-out by Detroit in those days, and we were also very impressed with the quality of that car’s assembly.
The old Beetles didn’t offer much but they delivered all that was offered and more to those who appreciated reliable basic transportation.
Does anyone else recall the Andy Griffin comedy routine about buying a VW and driving it home? I looked at youtube but didn’t find it.
That may be the routine I heard. It’s been nearly 60 years though. Dave Gardner had some good comedy records long ago also. I recall one about the Alabama governor getting a new car with an automatic transmission and his driver shifting to L for leap, then D for drag then R for race. Comedy was much more basic back in the GOOD OLE DAYS.
What drives the car buying decision? As long as no one is listening, from the female side, at least around here, its styling and color. Oh and the front end needs to smile not frown. Forget everything else except if the service department was rude. Then it’s all over for that brand. All the rest is secondary.
Now for me, I have to confess that the ability to pull a light trailer is a must. Then 4 wheel disc brakes, and a V6 if possible, and I like most of the options like power seats. I too like styling and I’m getting to appreciate a long warranty.
@Rod_Knox I dont know if you ever heard it but Wendy Bagwell also did a good one about rattlesnake’s in church.They both can be found on utube plus a lot of his other routine’s.
I don’t know whether the joke originated with the governor of Alabama or whether it originated on The Jack Paar Show, but I remember Jack setting-up the joke by asking his bandleader–Jose Melis–to tell the audience about the problem that he had experienced with his new car. Jose proceeded to tell–in his very-heavily accented English–about what happened with his new Chrysler when he wanted to go faster, and he pushed the “R” button–thinking that the “R” stood for rapido.
Yes the older cars are great to work on. My 1979 Celica, 1982 Cressida, and 1970 Chevelle for example. Spark plugs can be changed without uttering words inappropriate for a church. Same for valve cover gaskets, alternators, wheel bearings etc. Yes, I admit changing a fuel filter on the Chevelle’s Rochester carb takes a few minutes and wrenches, unlike the Celica’s firewall mounted one with two hoses, but that’s ok. And no half shafts like I posted about last week like those on my FWD Avalon. “Better traction in snow” - Big Deal!
You have a female side?
I agree. I recently saw a '69 Chevelle SS396 at a show, completely restored to new condition. Big block motor, yet there was tons of room all around it to do maintenance and repairs. As there was in my '64 Ford Fairlane 260V8. I looked at a restored Spitfire a few years back and it was amazing how open that engine compartment was. I miss that about the old days. But, time and regulatory mandates march on. 
Yeah she’s on my left.
Bing, if this plumber is in San Antonio, please tell us his name and number. I want to give him ALL my business.
Naw he’s in Minnesota but I’m sure he’d make the expense paid trip if asked.
While I have never seen the data or summaries, the auto industry is known for its comprehensive Voice Of the Customer (VOC) activities including focus groups, questionaires and so on. I’d be comfortable saying they probably know what motivates their customer better than any other industry…
As you’re probably familiar with, those VOC methods are very mature and designed to minimize errors due to respondent inconsistencies or truthfulness. One example is the way the question is worded to avoid bias and to ask it multiple times in different ways to gauge consistency.
A company I worked for used examples from auto industry to do their own market analysis. It was very enlightening to see not only the mechanisms but how the data was sorted and compiled into information