I misread the post as 1984 hahah....for me '64 was a good year...my Cooper is registered that year...same as me...
Its pretty amazing how far we have come with engine efficiency. With huge companies fudging the eco figures we must be pretty near to the limit. Cars are simple compared to the agricultural side, diesel engines in agricultural machines and tractors are getting seriously complicated with common rail tech....some inject 7 or more times per firing stroke. Even the simple up/down and tip/crowd hydraulics have serious electronics. The diagnostics manual for the John Deere 30 series is over 5400 pages...!! and that does not include operation and test which is another 5600 pages or 1600+ in the repair manual.
Just under the end cover on the gearbox is like looking at a huge human brain machined in aluminium, the gasket is a work of art, 16 forward and reverse gears can all be done under your thumb.
Its partly the electronics taking over, meaning the dealers have a monopoly to a certain degree. You can buy a decent 2nd hand car for the price of the scanner to try and cure the bloody things. Daft thing is with many the brakes share the same oil as the gearbox, and the brakes are only just big enough for the tractor...with an extra 15 tons behind the brakes can soon be worn out...then the clutch packs start going. Sorry for the ramble going off topic.
