@Mrog: Well said. I am in agreement with you that “if we’re not the last guardians of meaning and honesty, who will be?”
@iab: I think your Gloria lug example is not totally in disagreement with Mrog. At the time, they were absolutely contemporary and were the method du jour for the joining of frame segments. And the advent of frame welding doesn’t make your vintage Italian cycles suddenly burst into flames; the lugs will still serve their function until they break.
Mrog’s, mine, and others’ viewpoints have not been that making a retro styled product is somehow evil, or that all things need to be futuristic; just that it’s a dishonest marketing move.
Styling an oven to look like your grandpa’s bulletproof oven from the 40’s implies that it will perhaps function as well as grandpa’s, and last as long. With a low price point and standardized mechanical components, we can predict that this will probably not be the case.