I can agree on most of your thougths. I didn't say I'm absolutely right, it's just one possibility that I'm pointed out. Often the change in ownership implies change in people too. There are new leaders, you have new people that new leaders like more than others....etc. I'm just saying it's not that simlpe as it looks. Maybe in few cases it can be done without any major changes, that's true, but it's always a risky business.
On tyre thing : It's again just my instict that tells me that they can extract useful info. I'm servicing computers in my own business for 15 years. You can sure agree with me that computers 15 years back were quite different than now. Even so, you have same similar or characteristic errors in nowdays computers that you can diagnose using experince from old days much easier. You can fix things that other people think is unfixable...etc.Computer development is one of the fastest developing things in world, and even so you can rely on your experience. Maybe I'm wrong, but the real life tells me that you can use your own experience even if it's quite old. I'm sure they wouldn't start developing the 2011 cars looking back on 15 or more years old data, but they can find tips and tricks, and maybe they can find a solution faster than new teams based on that data. It's just common sense.
On the end, you have to have the right people to do all of that. If you don't, than it's the end of the story, regardeless if it's a new or old team.