Garrard 401 or Thorens 125

On the hearth in our NH home there is an old wooden plane made by my wife Bonnie's great grandfather, a professional furniture maker.  That is Old World craftsmanship in the true sense.  Point taken, lewm.  In my defense I did use small rather than capital letters.  I also have some old tools such as you describe inheriting from your father, except in my case, at 77, I bought them when new.  

Hey, I am old too.  I do have old tools bought by me in the last 40 years or so, and you can see the evolution from overbuilt to underbuilt just looking at those.

I understand what you mean about hand tools.  On the other hand, when it comes to turntables progress has been made.  I believe it would not be controversial to say that the turntables being made today, at least the ones that concern those of us who participate in forums such as this, are the best ever.  Now, let me pose a question for open comment.  What is the price point of diminishing return for a high end sound system?  Let’s keep it simple and confine my question to turntables only.  And let's assume new, current models only.  No used, discontinued or other screaming deals need be considered.

I have been reading this and other post regarding owning a vintage Garrard or Thorens. but what I don't understand is why the effort to get restored vintage TT (other than the value of being Nostalgic) as compared to just getting a New TT specially for the price.  

In my opinion the cost of a good restored Thoren's may equal the cost of a say VPI or Dr Freikert ! 

just wondering what the reasons are so i can get a better perspective

Most popular vintage turntables are idler drive or direct drive. Some people like me don’t like sound of belt drive turntables. And modern idler drive or good quality, musical DD turntable are creasy expensive. 
I don’t like belt drive turntables because bad PRAT, rubber bloated bass and lousy energy. They don’t play music, just sounds.