...The Aussie Bosch car electrical systems were rugged, reliable, not cheap, but big stuff, like starters & alternators were re-buildable multiple times & everybody in the trade did just that....
Now that is one thing that we sorely miss. Too many things are "throw out and replace" rather than repair. It sucks. Those white worm-in-the-ear earphones made by Apple that look like you have two chalks stuck in your ear have a LiIon battery that lasts around last two years and is not replaceable. Companies like Apple don't want you to repair or refurbish anything. Apple was caught making one of their iPhone firmware updates slow phones down so the user goes and buys the latest model. They just want want more of your money for their shareholders.
In my day TV's, radios, stereos were all worth repairing. Cars could be restored. The Holden red engine could be disassembled with two spanners.
You know you are old when you can remember getting something repaired or furbished; and very old when you could do it yourself.
The Holden red engine could be disassembled with two spanners maybe five spanners. whitworth or AF I forget
the cylinder head had some scope for development. yellow terrier heads
IMO the 186 was the best to work on, also adding a borg warner 4 speed gearbox if you had the cash.
it was all so basic back then, a vehicle was nuts and bolts with a basic electrical system, the only electronics was the in-car AM transistor radio
or CB if you had one.
AF--- Pommy cars were another delight altogether, with a mix of UNF, Whitworth, & BSF----all using mutually incompatible spanners.
The "Prince of Darkness" had another sweet thing going for a while, in a "Lucas thread" for the batt lead connection on their starters, complete with different distance across the flats.
At least they eventually realised it was silly, & discontinued its use.
The AF 9/16" & 1/2" are "near enough that they could kiss without sin" to 14mm & 13mm metric.
Electronic fuel injection & control of ignition & anti-pollution stuff were improvements, but the seriously dumb idea of a bloody great big touchscreen in the middle of the dash that you have to look at to operate is a backward step in my opinion.
By the way, the addition of an "ECU"was from the mid-'80s, the "goto" device for mechanics to blame:-
"It's the computer"------- like "just a tube" for radios in earlier years.
One bloke had a bunch of "computers" from wrecked cars, which he would slot in.
It even worked, sometimes!