More like apples v coconuts to me. A vintage Speedmaster can do the job it was intended for just as well as a modern Speedmaster, with the same level of convenience and efficiency. The same cannot be said for an AGA.

To me the AGA is not like owning a vintage Speedmaster, vintage sports car, or knowing how to tie a real bow tie - it's like refitting your home with gas lighting and not having indoor plumbing...

 

Point 1- Tick
Point 2- Tick
Point 3- Once upon a time, but no more
Point 4- I wear one to black tie do's. My Wife ties it for me on her thigh, 18 years ago when she did that for the first time I immediately lost any motivation for learning to do it myself ever again.....even if I could, I'd keep it quiet!

 

To be fair mine was Tick, Tick, Tick and have lost my touch on the last one.....

 

Also important to note, Speedmasters don't unnecessarily suck up finite natural resources when not in use (or ever, really)

 

Until you have to get your cal 321 serviced, you mean

 

I can't argue against their inefficiency but imo they do a better job at cooking most foods (if you know how to use it correctly- and many don't) than anything else available so it's a price worth paying. Also I always appreciate and enjoy using tools that are well engineered, something most modern appliances are certainly not. An Aga will last indefinitely, a modern and expensive oven probably has a life of (very roughly) 20 years, so they're not as cost efficient as you might think.

 

2 out of 4 here. My father owns a Triumph TR 3 though it's so reconditioned it's almost a frankencar. Runs well for a British roadster though. Edited because I can't count, apparently.

 

Aga?

 

Please explain how this is "better" at cooking foods? I may have to replace my oven every 20 years, but I could do that at least 3 times over (or 60 years - I doubt I'll be cooking much when I'm 113 years old) for the price of one of these. And my oven is only on when I'm cooking something in it - in fact the Pavlova we made last night requires turning the oven off and letting it cool inside the oven for best results - how do you do that in an Aga that is always on? You need precise control over temperature and the ability to turn it off to cool to get the crispy exterior and chewy interior that this one has...just pulled it out of the oven and snapped a pic for you:



I'm not sure what kind of modern ovens you have used, but honestly I would never give up the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of the oven we have now (Dacor). Please don't mistake something being over-built for being well engineered...speaking as an engineer...

It may be a better status symbol than my oven is, but I think that's about it.

 

We had a Doric stove when I was a kid.

The house had 3ft thick stone walls and single glazing, it was colder than a Witches tit. The piss pot was often frozen in the morning, this is starting to sound like the Two Ronnies. That stove was the only source of heat for cooking and warmth. Give it a poke in the morning and throw some more coal on it, away it went. There is nothing like sitting in front of a coal or peat fire and the slow Carbon Monoxide poisoning that makes you feel dowsy before falling asleep with a wee Dram in your hand. That was on a windswept Scottish Island in Nineteen Canteen. Today just about anything would be more efficient than that Archaic bit of Victorian Engineering.