When appliances were built to last!

[Gavin John Hyde]

Have been at a house today to do a quote to install an alarm system as an old lady is moving in with her daughter and will in due course be selling the house to another relative. so want it secure when empty.
She moved into this house in 1974 when she and her husband came over from India. They bought a cooker in 1974 from Argos and the thing still works.. so I googled it and she paid the princely some £59.95. I found a old catalogue from back then with the model in.
https://issuu.com/retromash/docs/argos-no02-1974 page 88-89 item 2
I cant think of any modern cooker that will last over 40 years! they are built to be replaced and disposed of nowadays. The lady said she likes her cooker, it works, never had an issue with it and why replace it? she has brought up 4 children cooking all the time on this thing and it still works and looked quite clean and tidy as she is very house proud.
looking at these old argos books has made me nostalgic though, its funny how a lot of the things i had as a kid have come back around.... its funny looking at some of the old tools from back then...

 

[freddo]

I'll take some photos later, it is not easy to work on this TV, you swing the chassis open for servicing and several wires fall off the PCB leaving no indication where they came from! When it worked it worked well. It went bang last time I was repairing it and I made it worse I must take another look.

 

[Andy78]

My parents have a microwave that is over 30 years old now and still rocking. Don't think I have had one last more than 4 years.

 

[xmetal]

In the late seventies / early eighties, my parents had a colour telly with the blue gun not working. I remember the green and orange pictures. It was worse than watching on a black and white telly!

 

[freddo]

Philips K 70. This one is fitted with the replacement plastic back, the original back covers were made of fibreboard and would sag from the heat from the CDA panel and then catch fire as it got close to the valves. The current fault is on the CDA panel. These panels are not reliable as it gets very hot and the PCB burns away, it has 2 cracked resistors on it at the moment. I have most of a spare chassis but it is missing the CDA panel. I do have the service manual which is helpful, I did set the convergence correctly when it was working, took over 2 hours as all the controls are interdependent.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Hi The problem is accountant now run these companys and not engineers so it is about how cheap we can make it and not about how good we can make it meaning much goes to the tip before it should

Apparently thats one of the reasons james dyson refused a takeover attempt by one of the big branded american companies as he said men in suits would knock out cheap junk with the dyson brand to keep shareholders happy and not build decent quality stuff that people value, it would be about numbers not engineering. He has hinted when he dies his kids will get part of the company, the staff a chunk and the rest will be in a charitable trust meaning nobody can ruin the company too easily.

 

[Adam W]

We had one of those Electrolux vacuum cleaners until the late 90s when we had to get rid of it because it was becoming difficult to buy the dust bags.
My dad had one of those imperial tape measures which you flip the handle out and wind back yourself. He probably still uses it since unlike the spring-loaded ones you get nowadays it didn't break if you had to measure something which was the advertised length of the tape.

I reckon gameshow contestants should go back to winning actual prizes like they did in the 70s and 80s so the the audiences can "woo" at the idea of someone winning a Goblin Teasmade, 14" TV/VHS combo or a free-standing teak veneered record player, not boring cash.

As much as I'd love to have a play around with the 35mm developing equipment, Super 8 camcorders or those hand-operated adding machines, other things like the 'wall art' which doubles as a tea tray, fluffy toilet seat covers or those flowery bedspreads can stay in the 70s. I don't think Argos would get away with selling air guns any more either.

 

[telectrix]

i bought a 2nd hand Daewoo combi microwave from a car boot sale for £8. 13 years ago. apart from a replacement lamp, it' been in almost daily use since and still works perfectly.

Apparently thats one of the reasons james dyson refused a takeover attempt by one of the big branded american companies as he said men in suits would knock out cheap junk with the dyson brand to keep shareholders happy and not build decent quality stuff that people value, it would be about numbers not engineering. He has hinted when he dies his kids will get part of the company, the staff a chunk and the rest will be in a charitable trust meaning nobody can ruin the company too easily.

so why is he chrning out junk that breaks down i 18 months and they refuse to supply pars, e.g. i asked them for a set of carbon brushes for a dyson, their answer was no chance, but you can have a new motor for £90 + VAT.

 

[StephenRowley]

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Apparently thats one of the reasons james dyson refused a takeover attempt by one of the big branded american companies as he said men in suits would knock out cheap junk with the dyson brand to keep shareholders happy and not build decent quality stuff that people value, it would be about numbers not engineering.

Yet he seems able to make over priced unreliable junk, especially after he shifted manufactured out to the country.

 

[StephenRowley]

I would be pleased to read your thoughts / calculation.

Was referring to the cooker, I just use one of the inflation based calcs Historical UK inflation rates and calculator - http://inflation.iamkate.com I don't think that companies don't make thing that last its more that people wont pay for them.

 

[KEV 1 N]

Apparently thats one of the reasons james dyson refused a takeover attempt by one of the big branded american companies as he said men in suits would knock out cheap junk with the dyson brand to keep shareholders happy and not build decent quality stuff that people value, it would be about numbers not engineering. He has hinted when he dies his kids will get part of the company, the staff a chunk and the rest will be in a charitable trust meaning nobody can ruin the company too easily.

Those Dyson vacuum cleaners ain’t that good....plastics feel flimsy, plus when you empty them in the wheelie bin, the muck it’s sucked up either ends up in your face or on the neighbours washing (depending on the wind direction!)
Wish they would invent a vacuum cleaner where the muck goes into a disposable container or “bag”

 

[StephenRowley]

Dyson Used to be alright but he crawled up his own jacksie an long time ago. Use a henry atm its feels like it would survive a nuclear war, and is made in Britain unlike Dyson rubbish.

 

[chris murphy]

Was referring to the cooker, I just use one of the inflation based calcs Historical UK inflation rates and calculator - http://inflation.iamkate.com I don't think that companies don't make thing that last its more that people wont pay for them.

Hello Stephen Rowley,

Thanks very much for the Link to the Historical UK Inflation Rates list & Money Value Calculator.

As You know it is showing that Money amounts from 1974 should be multiplied by 11.10 to find the `equivalent value` in 2017 which is the latest year available on the calculator.

Regards,

Chris

 

[telectrix]

not everything is the same. 20 smokes in 1974 cost 35p. 35 x 11.10 = £3.88 , so why asre they now £8?

 

[telectrix]

petrol was 35p a gallon. now £5.50. that's a x 15.

beer was 30p a pint. now £3.75 that's closer to the x 11.10.

 

[chris murphy]

Hello telectrix,

I agree with the examples that You gave.

Although I appreciated Member StephenRowley replying to me with a Link to the Historical UK Inflation Rates list & Money Value Calculator I would prefer to believe `real life` examples such as You gave.

I thought that I was about right in my comparisons in my previous messages on this thread when I was comparing an Office Clerks wages in various years to the price of the TV in Argos in 1974 and what the equivalent value - but according to the Calculator I was miles out.

Using your example the price of a Pint - which You stated was 30p in 1974 and now £3.75 does approximately `tally` with the Calculator [£3.33] - however I do not remember £500.00 seeming to be worth £5500 in `buying power` then !

Also as You wrote the Cigarettes and Petrol prices definitely do not follow the `multiply by 11.10` calculation.

I am sure that We could find `real life` examples that both confirm and refute the Historical Money Value Calculator.

Regards,

Chris