Re: because

[richard bies <bies@domain.elided>]

While a substantial part of the romance of the Giulietta Veloce may well
have been the extent to which it appeared to be hand crafted or hand
fitted, perhaps this cannot be extended very far.

Recall the image of the craftsman at his table with micrometer and
calipers, hand fitting parts for the Alfa engine....I have and use
micrometer and caliper, and am not at all confident of accurate and
repeatable measurement to .001 inch -- such is an inobvious skill.  Yet
look at the specs for the V6 engine -- typically in the 1/100 mm range.
Today's precision machine tools are doing very well, indeed.  A lot has
changed in recent decades.  The remarkable durability of these engines
is in part superior materials, but also in part the ability of the
engineer to specify a tighter tolerance, and the machine tool to deliver.

We are in the midst of a paradigm shift, in which "hand made" is switching
from denoting the finest of fit, to relatively crude.

r.m.bies

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