Quote:
Originally Posted by Sandy G
I guess I became an "Equipment Snot" from an early age. My dad drove Mercedes-This was LONG before they became the rather overpriced status symbols they are today. They REALLY WERE made better than almost anything els on the road. Also, the printing plant my family owned used a good deal of German & Swiss equipment. The Swiss stuff was maybe even better than the German stuff, which was pretty much TOTL. Where we fell down was not maintaining it to Swiss/German standards- Their factories apparently REALLY DO look like you could eat off the floor. Or at least they did back in the Sixties.
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Well, I never had any experience with Swiss Made electronics, but in Romania we imported second-hand Swiss Made trams (streetcars), trolleybuses and buses (both urban and coach). Never ride a Swiss bus (except of the ones that where converted in Bucharest into trolleybuses and I ride them only as trolleybuses), but I ryde streetcars and trolleybuses. Man, they where jewels. In city of Sibiu (Hermannstadt) until last year they used some 1951-1952 Swiss Made streetcars bought in 1995. I ride one in 1997. Awsome machines. No they aren't in service any more - except for some touristic porpouses; some people with automobiles are making inleagal competion to the streetcar - they are taking people for money from Sibiu to Răşinari (Răshinari) village and they aren't paying any tax for the services they provide (they have no autorization to do so). The Sibiu - Răşinari line is the only streetcar line remained in Sibiu. Streetcars like that are used in Iaşi (Jassy), but they are newer and are slight different from the ones from Sibiu (the ones from Sibiu where bought from Geneve, the one from Iaşi are from Bern).
In a city not very big (county administrative center b.t.w.), but with more civilized people then in other places they bought in 1990 3 Swiss buses manufactured in 1965; after riding in Switzerland for 25 years (they where give proper care there) they ride in Romania for 19 more years! Unfourtenley, I never ride one of those buses.
B.t.w., in the '50's the Swiss body manufacturers arleady used aluminium!
I don't know if the old tv sets where made to last 40 yrs, but they where made to last unleass 20 yrs. Back then the cosnumerism mania wasn't so the big. They say that you need consumerism to get the industry to work. In the past people used they stuff for a longer period of time (maybe except for the cars) and the society wasn't banckrupt. And they say that some newer products are consuming less energy. But what about the energy conusmed to manufactured them. What about the enormus cantity of waste, that isn't always recycled as the say?
But I think the radios where made to last. I have an 1972-1975 "Sony" ICF 111 radio that I don't think that it was ever repayred. Except for the F.M. - M.W. - L.W. comuter, that sometimes dosen't work fine is very good. I replaced the capacitors to my 1966 East-German radio (I use it only as an amplifier) and it's working fine. Even some old Made in Romania radios (whic wheren't soo god) are still working.
That's why I don't like new products. Except for I.T. stuff and maybe digital camera I don't need to replace my apparats every few years. I use 2 mobile (cellular) phones manufactured some 5-6 yrs ago.