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JeffBowlsby |
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914 Wiring Harnesses ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 8,537 Joined: 7-January 03 From: San Ramon CA Member No.: 104 Region Association: None ![]() ![]() |
We like these old cars for our own reasons, but we often hear:
"...remember, these cars [or their parts] were not built to last more than ___ years, they are commodities with a limited useful life." "we live in a throw-away society"...but our cars are not generally disposables with a short time line or priced as such. I recently saw a Model A with 20K original miles, original paint. At 90-some years old it was a great car for its time and for what it is today. I think the draw is more than just nostalgia, its respect for good design, engineering and an owners regular maintenance. Todays cars are generally not made from water soluble materials or short life span elements (other than disposable maintenance items) - they have steel not wood chassis, glass not plastic windows, durable leather/fabric not paper seats, etc. With exceptions, generally capable of lasting more than a few years and they cost enough to justify the durability. Todays manufacturers give warranties of X years, Y miles. All that seems to mean is that they won't pay for maintenance or service after that limited time is up which is just a limitation of liability for those costs, not that the car is only expected to function that long. Not an unreasonable condition of sale, and most cars won't explode when the warranty expires. Seems counter to the disposable argument that 50-ish years later the original manufacturer still supports these old cars with many factory OEM new parts (albeit of limited selection) and many 914s are still thriving. If it were true that they were only intended to last a certain short period of time, then the mfr. would not be obligated to continue to support them. But they do. |
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bbrock |
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914 Guru ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 5,269 Joined: 17-February 17 From: Montana Member No.: 20,845 Region Association: Rocky Mountains ![]() ![]() |
Great topic! I've never bought into the disposable car idea. Sure, there was great effort to keep costs down to an entry level price point, but I see little evidence that corners were cut to reduce longevity. To the contrary, these cars were packed with many of the latest innovations of the time in an overall design following Piech's idea of what a sports car should be. Costs were kept down largely by building a somewhat demanding design by leveraging economies of scale from using off the shelf VW parts as much as possible.
My guess is that the design team wished these cars long and happy lives but there was only so much that could be done to extend lifespan within price constraints and technology of the time. I doubt longevity was a major objective but that is not the same as being "disposable". They probably just wanted to build a machine with good performance (but not so good as to overshadow the flagship), with a fit and finish befitting of an entry level Porsche, and durable enough to eat into profits with loads of warranty repairs. Beyond that, it is just gravy. |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 13th June 2024 - 04:14 AM |
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