"A far cry from the 6,000 miles/six months service intervals when I first started driving four-wheeled vehicles in 1972."

I had an early '70s Triumph Dolomite 1850. You wouldn't get 6000 miles between services because you could never get more than 4000 miles out of the front brake pads. :-). I got very adept at changing' em. In fact, I serviced my cars meself in those days. Dolomites had other little foibles. The exhaust manifold had a bolt that was prone to working loose, causing the manifold to blow slightly, but the only way you could get at it was to remove the starter motor. They also leaked oil on to the top of the engine block, which had shallow little drillings in it in which the oil collected. If you drove up a very steep slope, or up a ramp to get the exhaust replaced (think 12-month warranty plus a few days over), the oil flowed backwards and a little bit seeped into the clutch bell-housing, so your clutch slipped for the next hundred miles. Happy days!