There's always a drawback.

Somebody made the comment that what used to be luxury brands of cars should be referred to as premium brands.  Not that the brand itself is premium, but that consumers, for whatever reason, are willing to pay more for it.  They pay a premium, and that is all that it takes in the modern theory of value.

I always loved Cadillacs up to the last Fleetwood Brougham. There was just something about the length, angularity and slenderness that I still admire today. All the cars now including the modern Caddys look like obese blobs of plastic.    In fact i am starting too search for an early-mid 70s Eldorado or Sixty special. Those were real tanks still then. Obviously these were never very competant compared to euro counterparts but nowadays custom shops can change all that.

Back to the mansions above. I would took those in a heartbeat over all these cardboard condos that are littering my city even though I am sure they are poorly built. Mind you my house isn't much better and definitely designed to fall apart. In fact modern easthetics and build quality just blows all around-just like all the fat chicks around-- nobody cares anymore. The whole thing just looks like a huge outhouse.

I live in a house built in the 30's. Solid as a rock.
But I have to pour in money every year plus pay high city taxes.
Went to look at new fancy houses in the county, and the first thing I noticed is everything seems to be lightweight material. More insulating, less air leaks in the walls and casings, durable hi-tech materials, etc. etc. Loving the tech, the sale spiel was having its effect on me until full of high spirits I bounded down the stairs. The vibrations transmitted to the walls. Ruined the whole high tech luxe aura.

^
True.  And we've touched on this before. 

Take my house, built in 1957, for instance.  It's a small brick ranch house.  All exterior walls brick.  All framing is nice old growth oak and pine.  When we purchased the house, the home inspector repeatedly commented on the build quality, throwing out the "they just don't make 'em like this anymore" cliche.  So the house is tough as nails and they didn't cut corners when they built it.  The downside is that it's probably quite a bit less energy efficient than a modern house.  And there's no closet space, which for me, is a HUGE F#@KING ISSUE!

Same thing with cars.  I love the fact that my old Ford truck is very user friendly in terms of maintenance.  I can perform most regular maintenance tasks on my own, and I'm not really very mechanically inclined.  Everything is within reach and easy to access.  When things break I don't fret about it much, because even if I have to take it to my mechanic, the repairs are usually fairly minor and the problem is usually quickly diagnosed and remedied.  There's just nothing to it.  For instance, I love that there are access panels in the door.  If you have a problem with the window or door lock, you just take remove a few screws and get in there and fix it.  Modern cars preclude the average Joe from working on them.  You MUST take them to the dealer or mechanic, often times for just simple little things.  Like my Nissan manual recommends taking the car to the dealer to change the little wiper on the rear window.  It's in some ridiculous little plastic housing that makes it a real pain to change.  WTF??!! 

But I'd much rather be in my modern Nissan in the event of a crash, especially a high speed crash.  And it's obviously far more fuel efficient.  It's also a hell of a lot less fun to drive - about as inspiring as rolling around in an ergonomic office chair.

^
I like a lot of old stuff for a multitude of reasons, one main reason being, at least in my mind, new is often just ubiquitous and common and boring.  It's an aesthetic thing.  But from a practical standpoint, new IS often much better.  I have no problem saying that.  I like air conditioning and being able to look at my bank account instantly without having to go to the bank and talk to a teller.

And like you say, to state absolutely one way or the other would be fallacy. 

And another good example: for as much nonsense the internet has subjected me too, I love that it puts so much of the stuff I love right at my fingertips - old music, movies, art, photographs - things that would otherwise be lost to time.

I heard a fire marshal speaking on television recently about how when comparing older houses (not sure what his definition of "older" was) to new houses, the old houses tend to be more survivable in fires and there is often less total damage, as the older, denser woods and materials burn more slowly.  Whereas new houses often go up like matchbooks. 

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/modern-homes-burn-simulation-15201700

Another thing my home inspector said, was that he will be surprised if the typical modern homes he inspects will stand up to 50 or 60 years of weather and occupancy as well as the homes built prior to the '70s.  Overall, he didn't seem too impressed with the way things are being done.