How was it in the 60s-80s?

I always felt my car was reliable and was never afraid to take it on long drives. My very first car was a 65 Dart with a slant 6 and then later I got the Barracuda. I do remember doing a lot more preventative maintenance than you have to on the newer cars. It seems like I was always having to replace an alternator or water pump. Typically flushed and changed antifreeze once a year. Also remember changing brake linings pretty often. Plugs, wires, points, condenser, and cap were changed about once a year. Had a dual point accel distributor that had such strong springs on its points that I had to constantly adjust the dwell. My ac-heater switch was always going bad so I spent a lot of time on my back reaching under the dash changing that out. Maybe I was just a teenage boy too obsessed with maintaining my car!