Why are some things so difficult - to take apart?

[Stuart Giles]

 it was necessary to remove the entire dashboard and instrument panel assembly A pillar to A pillar- everything you see when you sit in the front seat- (a two man job btw) to remove and replace said control unit... pid='40137' dateline='1579604291']

Nothing new there: I think it was John Ward who regaled us with the tale of a friend who wanted to buy a Sunbeam Alpine back in the 1960s. As it happened, said friend went on a factory tour before ordering his car, and he happened to notice that the heater was the first item to be installed into the bodyshell. So when he came to order his car hid did not tick the box for the (optional) heater; when the car arrived (complete with heater) he refused to take delivery, pointing out that he did not want to pay the extra charge. The car was sent to the workshops to have the heater removed ... only for the workshop foreman to appear, swearing and cursing, saying there was no way he was going to take that bl***y heater out, it would take all day. So the car was duly invoiced out, less heater charge, complete with factory-installed heater!

Ah yes, the options game.... Having had a satisfactory test drive, inspected the rear of the car to make sure there was plenty of room for rusty/oily bits and negotiated a cash price, I attempted to order my last daily driver from the dealer's. The dealer said, oh, and the optional metallic paint is £250. I said that's OK, I don't really want metallic paint it's a nightmare to match in the colour on any scratches or scrapes. This triggered a great spiel from the salesman saying how the car would have some massive reduction in resale value if it were painted in any of the solid colours on offer. I replied, 'not a problem for me, the next owner of my cars is usually the scrapman, he doesn't care about the colour as he cranes another car onto the pile of dead cars on his lorry'. Then the salesman said, well if you want a solid colour, it'll have to be a special order, it will take X weeks extra to arrive. I said that's OK, I'll just keep my current daily driver while I wait and pay you the balance when it arrives. At which point the salesman said, 'look, if I throw in the metallic paint will you order the car now'