Re: [a/s] Old vs New

["Rich Walbridge" <wbcci@xxxxxxx>]

Listees,

I had a '73 Excella and was very happy with it.  I thought the workmanship
was good.

I now own a '93 and am very happy with the workmanship in it.  I am even
more pleased with some of the frills in the newer trailers.  Example: the
automatic lighter for the refer, furnace and hot water heater.

I think back to the days when I owned cars in the 50s and 60s and recall the
problems they had with cars then.  There seemed to be lots of rattles,
leaks, squeaks and problems with transmissions and electrical components.

If you recall, there was a war going on between car manufacturers with
regard to warrantees.  Chrysler had the 5/50.

Remember the Corvair?  All the problems with them?  Remember the leaky 54
Fords with the overhead valve V8s?

How about the old pushbutton drive in the Chrysler cars?  Pretty fancy...but
lots of problems!

Things are getting better...tires for example.  Without this last incident
with Firestone, tires have improved a great deal.  I don't think anyone ever
got more than 20K out of a set of tires back in the 50s and 60s.  Hell, I've
got 48K on my Firestone "E rated" tires now with 10-20K more to go!

Batteries are another car/truck component that has improved.  I think
batteries are good for 5 years now vs. 2 or so back then.  Electrically, I
think across the board cars and trucks are much better today....when is the
last time you heard of a starter, alternator, (generators in the 50s), or
solenoid crap out?

One Airstream owner I know thinks the RV industry is going through what the
car industry did in the 50s and 60s.  He says the wake up call for the auto
industry came from Japan.  He says even the expensive rigs like the Beaver
and Monaco are in trouble with building junk.

I think there is room for improvement with Airstream....but to be
competitive they cut corners instead of doing the job once, they make time
to do it twice.

There is no excuse for poor workmanship.  Quality assurance is the key to
completing a job well-done.

Rich Walbridge
mailto:richwalbridge@airstream.net
WBCCI#3371