Old cars were notoriously bad for not starting. Points, condenser, damp HT leads or carb issues, old cars were horrifically unreliable, and every morning you would see someone struggling to get to work! And this was when these cars were new, or nearly new.
My 60's & 70's Minis, a Marina TC, Volvo 144 would all let me down and ALL needed welding. I then bought a Ford Cortina, which before it was seven years old, and with just 45K was rotten beyond economical repair, it had also munched through two camshafts and several alternators! I vowed to never buy another Ford after that car!
In my experience cars, late 80's on, started to become significantly more reliable and much more rot tolerant. From 1986 I ran three Audi's in succession and took each to well beyond 100K miles (210K on my 80 16V sport). All these cars required maintenance and had failures but considering the miles it was never really unexpected, and I don't ever recall being stranded with a car failing to start!
Our Alfa and Fiat years were a little more interesting and recovery was needed several times (Alfa's and once with the Coupé - coolant hose behind the motor). The Fiat coupé undertook several long road trips across Europe with only one issue in all those trips. I suffered a coil pack failure whilst doing silly speeds on the autobahn heading for Kiel and Norway. In recent years only one of my cars has failed to Start. My Alfa 166 would sometimes mess about when it was hot, which was eventually found to be a timing sensor. Our Grande Punto never failed but once past 100K miles it did used to enjoy telling you it was not happy
Back in Audi's in recent years and they have never failed to start, even after several days sat idle. They all take in their stride the 50+ mile commute, munching the miles and requiring little maintenance beyond servicing.
Today most cars at 10-years-old are in fabulous condition. Many cars at 20-years-old are also still in great condition too, needing at worst minor work to keep them on the road.