Hey, I occasionally (admittedly very rarely) carry my old Remington Model 51, because it's so flat that I can, even in the hottest weather, conceal it under a t-shirt with an IWB holster. It also points more naturally than any other handgun ever (for me anyway), and the quality is indeed, superior. The amount of machining that went into it means that the gun could probably never be offered for sale on the market today if anyone tried to bring it back. What a pity.
Qualitywise, there are pluses and minuses comparing new guns vs. old. On the one hand, the level of fit and finish on new guns doesn't even begin to compare. Last year I bought an almost mint 6 1/2" bbl S&W Model 29, made in the early '60s, just after they adopted the Model 29 designation, and when they still came with the much-desired "coke bottle grips" (which mine still has). I picked it up and compared it with a brand new Model 29 the shop also had. The difference was night and day. The new gun had a flat, dull blue, while mine is so shiny you could almost shave in it. You simply won't ever see a new, factory gun come with that level of polish anymore. It just costs too much. Those old coke bottle grips were hand checkered and fitted, and you won't see that anymore either. The level of individual craftsmanship that went into the old guns was just of a level you don't see anymore.
On the other hand, new guns have undeniably superior metallurgy. And the computers that show up in the manufacturing process these days often permit greater tolerances to be routinely achieved than in the old days. One of the reasons less hand fitting is needed nowadays is that parts come made to tighter tolerances to begin with, and this means less cost in the manufacturing.
If you adjust for inflation, you find a good quality firearm took about as big a bite out of your paycheck 50 or so years ago as it does today. But the guns did look a lot better, though they didn't always shoot better.