You’re right about things coming apart on old cars. Many years ago, driving my 1933 Riley in the morning rush hour on my way to work in the West End; approaching Chelsea bridge, I pulled out to pass a cyclist and when I moved the steering wheel to pull back in, I realised it was no longer connected to the road wheels. A ball-joint had come adrift. I pushed it out of the way of traffic and abandoned it, might have left a note on the windscreen. In the evening I put a square lashing round the offending part to keep it together (not for nothing did I study knots in the boy scouts) and drove it home. In those days it was possible to leave a vehicle untended for a working day with no problems – try to do something similar today and it would probably be melted down and made into saucepans by evening.