I reckon the Golden Age was the late '80s and the '90s, for this reason. Car reliability had improved tremendously with fuel injection systems being almost universally dependable. Many manufacturers (especially Peugeot) were making very well galvanised bodyshells, so your car shell would last at least 10 years, and they hadn't yet been forced into putting so many pollution monitoring sensors and systems in that you need a computer program to diagnose and reset fault codes before you can start actually fixing a "problem" which might turn out to be only a faulty sensor! I still reckon the most reliable car ever was probably a late '90s Honda Civic. Even Renault got it right with the Mk1 Megane 1.4 and 1.6 16valve cars - these are very reliable, and fixable, if needed, unlike their "clever electronics and security" successors.
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