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Comment by Damogran6 | Hacker News Reader

I had a 89 Corvette...designed in the late 70's early 80's before computers were generally used to do so. It was a mass of shims and slotted holes to get things to line up.

I had a 1998 Corvette...designed in the early 90's with CADCAM. No shims. Things like a door latch and door made by entirely different companies, the three holes to attach the latch weren't shimmed or slotted, and the replacement fit exactly with no adjustment.

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Cars were exactly the other example I was going to use but cut my comment short.

Anyone who has looked in the engine bay of a car from 50s/80s/00s/now can observe how tightly packed & compartmentalized everything is now. Early cars had a lot of room under the hood cuz mechanics were constantly in there tinkering, adjusting or replacing bits and pieces. It's incredible how long a car from a reliable brand lasts now, with minimal maintenance.

EVs are another step function in this change as theres even fewer mechanical moving parts and fluid lines to worry about.

Same as the old land rovers I used to work on. 2mm was considered miraculous tolerances anywhere. If something didn't line up it usually got hit until it did.

“I had a 89 Corvette...designed in the late 70's early 80's before computers were generally used to do so. It was a mass of shims and slotted holes to get things to line up.”

This has nothing to do with computers. Detroit just didn’t care about building decent cars back then. Mercedes and many others were able to build very nicely designed cars long before CAD/CAM was available.

Wouldn't you know it, the mercedes door handles from 1985 used slotted holes[1]. As much as you like them, Mercedes cannot transcend the technical abilities of the time.

[1] https://www.ebay.com/itm/174693656016

I guess my comment was more about the general build quality of US cars from the 70s. I have worked on some and it seemed they were just thrown together without any thought or care.

No argument there. They were definitely not going after the "luxury" market segment (and still don't)

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