That is of course urban legend. It is true that when you take the lid off a basic PT the appearance is home-built. However, the engineering is fine enough. It perhaps needs to be seen in the context of its time compared with its rival the LP12. Indeed, it was basically designed by Arthur, who at the time was working for Wessex Helicopters, as a response to his disgust at the pile of junk he got when he bought himself an LP12.
Now, at the time, Arthur rather naievly thought Linn should sell their decks at the cost of the components plus a tenner for their time, and forgot that VAT, dealer margin, distributor margin (pricing is international) and manufacturer overheads mean that as a broad brush guide final price will be 3x component cost. And the original PT's problem was it cost more than twice the cost of an LP12 and tried to sell for the same £300.
Great engineering includes a rigid, light, non-resonant sub-chassis. OK it was scruffy, but for a normal punter playing a record, why did they need to see it? Aerolam is a git to cut (they were hand cut with a jig-saw originally). In engineering terms far better than the boingy pressed steel LP12 item (LP12 £3 - PT £35 again)
Even the plinth was a profiled (ok ok I know - "skirting board") design on a PT compared with a plank of wood and a couple of routed grooves on a Linn. Of course, this necessitated the nemesis of Pink Triangle - quite the scruffiest and most unreliable thing on the turntable, the poxy pink lids - which due to the profile of the plinth had to be deeper than standard and so cheap injection moulded options not available. Cost of a smart pretty moulded in volume Linn lid - £3. Scruffy Pink PT lid - £35.
The suspension, which was easily adjustable from above, was also inherently stable and didn't need to be "guyed down" with the arm cable. Arranging for the centre of mass to be at the centre of suspension, and for the suspension to hang from springs rather than perch on them meant it was stabilised by gravity rather than destabilised by gravity (imagine balancing a weight on a coil spring with the weight on the top - it will want to wobble over, and once it tips won't return to centre. Now hang the weight below the spring and the opposite is true)
So scruffy - but sound functional engineering - which still performs to a very high standard. If you are using it, I would suggest a new belt and one of the new spin bearings which has transformed mine. If you are not, and thinking of selling it, let me know how much you want for it.