That's because American businesses suck. Back in the 70's, the Big Four US car companies were making crappy cars.
@Hoodat I bought my 4 cylinder 93 (I THINK) Ford Ranger pu for $400. It had around 200,000 miles on it,and I drove it for about 2 years before the engine took a dump.
Sadly,it is cheaper to buy a more modern used one than it is to buy a rebuilt engine and pay someone to do the swap even if I buy the engine and get it delivered to them.
And I am STILL thinking about doing that at least once a month.
I just like vehicles you can leave parked in a parking lot with the doors unlocked,and there is still nobody interested in stealing it.
Back when I was still able to work on cars,I either drove cars that were given to me because there was something wrong with them and the owner wanted it out of his back yard,or that I could buy for 200-300 bucks. Got a lot of miles out of those clunkers.