Reason for buying old/classic turntables

Belt drive is going to be impacted more by variables like platter mass. My Sota has a fifteen pound platter and so once it overcomes inertia it is very stable at speed. A lighter platter would be more susceptible variations in engine speed, belt imperfections,etc. An inexpensive belt drive could very well be bested by a quality DD, but like anything else its all in the quality of the execution. Theoretically DD might have advantages, but it seems belts have won out by trial and error as the better solution.

Both types of tables do still use round wheels though.

I can remember when DD was the main player, that Thorens prided itself on staying with belts, claiming that they could improve any direct-drive unit by adding a belt.

There is a quality to some of the older models, like a Thorens TD 124, a Garrard 301, a Dual 1229, a Rek O Kut 11, that just seems right. Properly set up, the deliverly of those older, idler wheel turntables is amazing, especially on solo piano. I abandoned my Linn LP12 with nearly 8k invested in mods, motors, arm etc, in favor of a Dual 1229 which I installed a Grace 747 arm on. My second choice would be to find a good Thorens TD-124. Belt drive, direct drive can both deliver good results, but their is just something about the pace, pitch and power of an idler driven table. Also, the build quality, and engineering is first rate. By far, the best listening experience I have ever had.

I replaced my Well-Tempered Reference Table with a Technics SP-10 MK II because the Technics is better. I wasn't being fashionable, cute or nostalgic.

As Mike suggested above, the Japanese DD tables of the late seventies and early eighties were statement products whose R&D was subsidized by the sale of millions of mass market tables. There is no such subsidy today and no investor could hope for a return on investment in sales of comparable products today.
The EPA 100 tonearm on that SL-1000 MK II table in the ad you guys are talking about, was Harry Pearson's reference arm for years and still competes favorably with much of what is for sale today. It is probably worth $1000 all by itself. It has 20 highly polished rubies in use as ball bearings and utilizes a very clever dynamic balance adjustment so that it can be used with any cartridge regardless of compliance.

The engineers who designed and built this stuff were every bit as capable as today's garage tinkerer's. They don't receive the same publicity, of course, because they are not being advertised in the review magazines and they cannot be stocked by high volume dealers.

The implicit superiority of modern product is mythology at its best.

Agree that $3000 for a Technics is just crazy, when you can get a good Thorens or Garrard for that. The build quality and sound of those tables is fantastic, better than anything I have heard so far being built nowadays.