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.....Here is what I don't get... We're days away from 2008 not 1968.. With CAD/CAM, and todays's technology..

Why is it a company today can't satisfactorily produce a 40 year old part at LEAST as good as its 1968 counterpart?

What manufacturing processes existed in 1968 that allowed a company to produce a top plate for a console that today's technology just can't do?

Our IPods and Cell phones have more technology that all of NASA had when we went to the moon
in 1969

But we still can't make a simple plastic/metal part? We were able to do this 40 years ago?
But we can't today?

C'mon... don't give me this union crap
We had unions in the late 60's even more then
than now!!!

What gives... why is this so hard to do?

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I look at a firm like Orange County Choppers or even Boyd Coddington that has the ability to make a 3-D part in software and then transition it directly to a finished piece with a CNC machine tool. Yes, I don't expect every piece to be machined but why couldn't more accurate molds or dies be done this way? Especially with parts you can hold in your hand.