The fact that certain mechanical or electrical things could be easily taken apart and cleaned, or repaired or adjusted. My wife's old VW was like that... if I did the valve adjustment, points adjustment and oil change every couple of thousand miles... that VW purred... Once a year or so I'd let a trusted mechanic do it for me... just so I made sure what I was doing was right.

Toasters used to be easy to fix, just like vaccuum cleaners... same with tube radios, record players and TVs. Now everything is glued, riveted and sealed... and has tiny blackbox chips inside. When it breaks... all you can do is throw it away.

My Tohatsu carb is still in the rebuild-able category... Perhaps that is why they are popular. My lawnmower has a plastic carb.