<<A mechanic told me the other day that when he was looking at a problem
on an old car (don't remember which kind, but it was an American model)
with 160,000 + miles on it he noticed that the belts were the originals
from the factory!
He said they just don't make them like they used to.>>

Sure they do.
The basic problem here is nobody wants to pay the price for the premium
belts.