They did require more care and maintenance than today's cars. Sadly, people generally allowed them to go to hell, especially when it came to changing oil.
Here's the mistake the poster, and maybe you are looking at.
You are applying today's technology, and using it to compare today's quality and features to yesterday's products.
Sure, today's vehicles are much more reliable in today's world.
In this case, the vehicles built say during the '50's were a product of their time. They were NOT junk, in fact they were built very stoutly. Yes, their technology OF THE DAY was not comparable of today. This in no way means they were "junk", they were simply limited at the time for what they were intended for.
Do you think people in the '50's looked back and claimed the horse and buggy was "junk"? Again, they were built very strong, but like the cars in the '50's they were a product of their time.