Weird, as all the "sweats" I own have a string in the waistband which I can tie...
Old Enough To Remember?
- Thread starter Shuey
- Start date
As soon as we figure out how to tie a bow in a single loop of string.Weird, as all the "sweats" I own have a string in the waistband which I can tie...
(Yes, I do know how.
)
What really impresses me is if you look at the water line you can see that broadside is shoving the whole ship sideways a good bit. That ship is a minimum of 48,000 tons.
... sound advice...
Goods used to be made to a standard whereas now they are made down to a price. Quality of modern goods has a built-in life expectancy! 
Last edited:
Found on the inet...
I almost exclusively drive and restore only cars from the 90s.
Not out of spite. Not out of nostalgia.
But because I don't want to be constantly "instructed" by my car...
Back then, technology was there to solve problems.
Today, technology itself is the problem – only better packed.
A car broke down over a broken part...
A bearing, a hose, a switch.
Today a car breaks down because a sensor somewhere feels that another sensor had contradicted it.
And when two control units argue, the car always ends up stranded on the shoulder.
Defective position light – a nice example.
Previously: little bulbs with two legs for five euros.
Open the hood, turn the socket, put the new bulb in, done.
Time required: five minutes, four of them for wiping your hands afterwards.
Today: a complete new LED headlight assy required
Including control unit, coding, calibration, basic setting and the recommendation to always replace both sides...
Because only then the light will be perfect again –
The price ranges somewhere between a month's paycheck and the annual loss of value on the car's price tag...
And before you even can access anything, you first have to dismantle half the car.
Covers, panels, air ducts, crash structures, design parts.
Not because they are technically necessary – but because the engine compartment is now more of a puzzle than a work area.
In the '90s you popped the hood and saw the engine.
Today you see plastic.
Below that even more plastic, cables, hoses, indefinable things...
And somewhere underneath an engine, which obviously no longer wants anyone to see or understand it.
Everything is glued, clipped, cast, welded...
Not because it will last longer, but because no one should open it anymore.
No screws, no contacts, no tool access...
Repair is not intended. Exchange is the plan.
And even the good old starter battery is no longer a simple lead acid type these days.
Previously: new battery in, attach terminal clamps, done.
Today configurations and "introducing" the new battery to the ECU are required.
Literally: you have to tell the car that it now has a "new battery"...
Best with an expensive diagnostic computer, login codes and a really steady hand.
The battery of course costs twice as much now –
so does the replacement procedure because without 'learning-in' the start-stop system feels insulted...
The legendary diesel engine, previously built for mileages where the rest of the car has long given up,
has been “optimized” to a degree it only works with additives, filters, sensors, regeneration runs... and a lot of patience.
Consumption is hardly better, cars are significantly heavier, their technology infinitely more complicated.
Emissions are "cleaner" during the test bench –
but in real life the engine is constantly on the verge of shutting down because some sensor reading is off by 0.3%...
And when something actually fails, it becomes really absurd.
A sensor for a few euros reports an error, which immediately paralyzes a control unit.
And that control unit is connected to five other systems...
In the end the workshop says:
“Yeah... it'll still drive, but actually not worth fixing it...”
Today, a modern car loses its value faster than you're able to knock the grin out your passenger's face.
Cars from the 90s were different.
Rust was finally somewhat under control.
You had technology that you could explain clearly to customers without having to hold a tablet in your hand,
grasping for the right terminology so they would understand why he now has to spend huge amounts of money...
Back then the operating instructions in the glove compartment informed about things like how to adjust the valve clearance,
today they warn that you shouldn't drink the contents of the battery...
If there even still hard-copied instructions that you can touch, and not only avail as app on a smart phone...
Reliability was a selling point.
Manufacturers intended to win awards - not introduce subscription models.
Assistance systems already existed, but they were helpers, not watchdogs.
Automatic high beam? Adaptive cruise control? Cornering lights? Self-dimming rear-view mirrors?… all super modern things?
Far from it. This all existed in the 70s.... much of it in a Lincoln Continental or Citroen DS...
It's just that we've deviated from it again. Why? Causing too much trouble, costs, damages the MFG reputation...
Drivers aren't idiots, they have hands and brains.
Today it doesn't matter, anything that lasts doesn't make profit.
Back then, cars were designed to last a long time.
Not to be replaced every four years.
Not disposed because of a broken parking light or an “untrained” battery.
Not dependent on software versions, servers or "online activation".
You got in, turned the key, the engine purred.
And if something didn't go well, it was repaired.
With tools, intellect and ingenuity – the way we learned it.
Maybe I'm old.
Maybe I'm unfashionable.
Or maybe I just like cars, where you can still see the engine, and a small bulb that costs five euros does not determine the resale value of the vehicle.
My first car is probably still running today... it had exactly 75 hp.
More then sufficient for a 900kg vehicle... and with 6.4ltr/100km consumption. Perfect...
Yup...
I almost exclusively drive and restore only cars from the 90s.
Not out of spite. Not out of nostalgia.
But because I don't want to be constantly "instructed" by my car...
Back then, technology was there to solve problems.
Today, technology itself is the problem – only better packed.
A car broke down over a broken part...
A bearing, a hose, a switch.
Today a car breaks down because a sensor somewhere feels that another sensor had contradicted it.
And when two control units argue, the car always ends up stranded on the shoulder.
Defective position light – a nice example.
Previously: little bulbs with two legs for five euros.
Open the hood, turn the socket, put the new bulb in, done.
Time required: five minutes, four of them for wiping your hands afterwards.
Today: a complete new LED headlight assy required
Including control unit, coding, calibration, basic setting and the recommendation to always replace both sides...
Because only then the light will be perfect again –
The price ranges somewhere between a month's paycheck and the annual loss of value on the car's price tag...
And before you even can access anything, you first have to dismantle half the car.
Covers, panels, air ducts, crash structures, design parts.
Not because they are technically necessary – but because the engine compartment is now more of a puzzle than a work area.
In the '90s you popped the hood and saw the engine.
Today you see plastic.
Below that even more plastic, cables, hoses, indefinable things...
And somewhere underneath an engine, which obviously no longer wants anyone to see or understand it.
Everything is glued, clipped, cast, welded...
Not because it will last longer, but because no one should open it anymore.
No screws, no contacts, no tool access...
Repair is not intended. Exchange is the plan.
And even the good old starter battery is no longer a simple lead acid type these days.
Previously: new battery in, attach terminal clamps, done.
Today configurations and "introducing" the new battery to the ECU are required.
Literally: you have to tell the car that it now has a "new battery"...
Best with an expensive diagnostic computer, login codes and a really steady hand.
The battery of course costs twice as much now –
so does the replacement procedure because without 'learning-in' the start-stop system feels insulted...
The legendary diesel engine, previously built for mileages where the rest of the car has long given up,
has been “optimized” to a degree it only works with additives, filters, sensors, regeneration runs... and a lot of patience.
Consumption is hardly better, cars are significantly heavier, their technology infinitely more complicated.
Emissions are "cleaner" during the test bench –
but in real life the engine is constantly on the verge of shutting down because some sensor reading is off by 0.3%...
And when something actually fails, it becomes really absurd.
A sensor for a few euros reports an error, which immediately paralyzes a control unit.
And that control unit is connected to five other systems...
In the end the workshop says:
“Yeah... it'll still drive, but actually not worth fixing it...”
Today, a modern car loses its value faster than you're able to knock the grin out your passenger's face.
Cars from the 90s were different.
Rust was finally somewhat under control.
You had technology that you could explain clearly to customers without having to hold a tablet in your hand,
grasping for the right terminology so they would understand why he now has to spend huge amounts of money...
Back then the operating instructions in the glove compartment informed about things like how to adjust the valve clearance,
today they warn that you shouldn't drink the contents of the battery...
If there even still hard-copied instructions that you can touch, and not only avail as app on a smart phone...
Reliability was a selling point.
Manufacturers intended to win awards - not introduce subscription models.
Assistance systems already existed, but they were helpers, not watchdogs.
Automatic high beam? Adaptive cruise control? Cornering lights? Self-dimming rear-view mirrors?… all super modern things?
Far from it. This all existed in the 70s.... much of it in a Lincoln Continental or Citroen DS...
It's just that we've deviated from it again. Why? Causing too much trouble, costs, damages the MFG reputation...
Drivers aren't idiots, they have hands and brains.
Today it doesn't matter, anything that lasts doesn't make profit.
Back then, cars were designed to last a long time.
Not to be replaced every four years.
Not disposed because of a broken parking light or an “untrained” battery.
Not dependent on software versions, servers or "online activation".
You got in, turned the key, the engine purred.
And if something didn't go well, it was repaired.
With tools, intellect and ingenuity – the way we learned it.
Maybe I'm old.
Maybe I'm unfashionable.
Or maybe I just like cars, where you can still see the engine, and a small bulb that costs five euros does not determine the resale value of the vehicle.
My first car is probably still running today... it had exactly 75 hp.
More then sufficient for a 900kg vehicle... and with 6.4ltr/100km consumption. Perfect...
Yup...
... the first time one could request a photo CD...
... the prequel to Breaking Bad...
A gen-Z spotting my email address...
"WOW! How did you manage to get your full name into that?!"
Well, when email was invented, I was there...
"WOW! How did you manage to get your full name into that?!"
Well, when email was invented, I was there...
... indeed... and kept through work-life till present day...
(while gen-Z and later maintain a +60% absenteeism from work rate...)
(while gen-Z and later maintain a +60% absenteeism from work rate...)
Back in the mid 90's (that's 1990's...) I worked for a small IT company as a technical sales guy....
We invited a company called Pipex to come and tell us about this new "internet" technology..... we then set about selling dial up packages to clients and negotiating with some companies for WAN setups over ISDN leased lines at what now are pedestrian data speeds.... (128Kbps)
A years dial up was £210 (not $) and that was at dial up speeds which we would now laugh at!
I remember getting my first personal broadband connection for my new business in 2004 or 2005 and it was at 1Mbps... which was quite frankly astonishing compared to my previous thirty something Kbps dial up.... still over copper though.....
How did I ever work in the late 90's for a USA based parent company head office dialling up Winchester, Virginia from Cheshire in the UK on a 28,800bps dial up and worked over a Citrix remote session!
Progress was astonishing!
We invited a company called Pipex to come and tell us about this new "internet" technology..... we then set about selling dial up packages to clients and negotiating with some companies for WAN setups over ISDN leased lines at what now are pedestrian data speeds.... (128Kbps)
A years dial up was £210 (not $) and that was at dial up speeds which we would now laugh at!
I remember getting my first personal broadband connection for my new business in 2004 or 2005 and it was at 1Mbps... which was quite frankly astonishing compared to my previous thirty something Kbps dial up.... still over copper though.....
How did I ever work in the late 90's for a USA based parent company head office dialling up Winchester, Virginia from Cheshire in the UK on a 28,800bps dial up and worked over a Citrix remote session!
Progress was astonishing!
pfffff... posh...
RJ11 dial-up modem on landline... theoretically about 24Kbps... depending on how much static was on the line...
Fun times and HTML email was a big boo-boo...
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First job out of college in 1987 had me using one of these IBM “portable” computers.
I had a Kaypro Computer
First job out of college in 1987 had me using one of these IBM “portable” computers.
STripper
Brian
I had the Compaq...
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I used my mother‘s 1974 electric typewriter in high school, and a word processor, not a computer, in my first two years of college.
Looked like this:
Except it needed tractor feed paper, not plain paper, and you could only store a limited number of plain text documents on each 3.5 inch floppy disc.
Looked like this:
Except it needed tractor feed paper, not plain paper, and you could only store a limited number of plain text documents on each 3.5 inch floppy disc.