It was never really a "thing" until recently. In the 60s Japanese cars were ridiculed "little tin buzz boxes" and "made in Japan" was a byword for cheap tat. German cars were things like the VW Beetle and had an almost ironic following amongst hippies and such with the enduring love for the VW Van just beginning. Porsche were looked on as some sort of sooped up Beetle and Mercs were the transports of straight-arm-saluting murderers. BMWs were rarely considered. Electronic products followed a similar path Japanese tat v British "built-to-last". And yes some veterans would never consider buying a German or Japanese product for the reasons you quote.
Japanese motorbikes were probably the first to break through the reputation for "cheap tat" with bikes that were reliable and had useful features like electric starters. The Japanese broke through in electronics too with cheap "transistor radios". Through the 70s Japanese cars were still looked down upon but they concentrated on making their cars reliable and also loading them with gear so whilst in the Ford showroom you could choose your Cortina as base model, an L, XL, GXL or GT with different levels of trim and three engine sizes according to your position on the company hierarchy often with such things as a radio being a cost option if you wandered into a Datsun showroom there was one or maybe two models of Bluebird and it had cloth seats and a radio as standard. A lot of the problems were complacency and arrogance in the companies and to an extent the confrontations between unions and management. The Germans steadily built a reputation for engineering excellence which is almost ridiculously present today in the car world with the love for "Beemers, Mercs and Audis" surpassing their actual documented reliability statistics.
A bit of a trite observation though it does help that your factories are newly built (because the RAF and USAAF obliterated the old ones)
Worked on the cars, that's what I served my time as . The Volkswagen beetle was a air cooled flat 4 that I often worked on, awful to drive, the Golf and the Polo, they pizzed oil, had no servo, and the lights were as good a candles, they later let you get factory upgrades, they also rotted as good as any BL., People just went to Volkstech and bought the extras, I think the Boro had one Turnbulls on Snowdon Road.
The Jap cars I worked on some early ones the Toyota Crown 1972, and I think they turned the corner (no pun intended) with the Datsun 120Y, but while the engines were bomb proof you could hear them rust. I worked on just about every car from Top range Jags, every Ford, from 62 on over, Moscovitch, Yugo Fiat and Lancia Saab, Volvo, Hillman , Land Rover all ranges, the list is endless to be honest.
The motor bikes just came on the back of a more sporty moped that cracked the puppy boy teens desire - Honda SS 50, Yamaha FSIE, Suzuki TS that's not including the shift worker special C50 C70 C90. I did have favourites like Suzuki 750 GT water bottle and the Yamaha triple 380 but never owned them. I used to ride Motocross too for a short while RM 125 and a 440 Maico and 250 Elsinore my mate had.
Cars now are a lot more technical to a degree, but they were then in the top end models of the time, just nowadays joe soap cant afford not to get a service history, but I have to admit I love some of the toys,(mainly the heated front windscreen) and mines like a space ship I love the Spotify, sat nav although I use Waze. But I find most dull looking, the world has changed. But they are a safer thing with the advent of better crumple zones and airbags, but they just aren't sexy even the Beemers Audi. I've had a top of the range Audi but it I never fell in love with it. I do miss servicing my own car a little(spending 10 minutes over a bonnet I would probably seize up)
Right I'm off.
