True, Spidel was an attempt. But it wasn't designed to be aesthetically concordent - just rebadged. And AFAIK, you couldn't just ring up Spidel and order gruppos, so the supply chain wasn't very efficient or user friendly for bike makers.
And yes, the Mavic brakes were Modolo. But at least the group made some aesthetic sense, and you didn't have to contact Modolo to order your brakes. I think the SSC group is very cool, and the later starfish cranks are definitely distinctive (and the 604 derilleur is nice, too, though essentially a copy). The whole idea of the Mavic stuff being rebuildable appeals to me. Somebody was at least finally doing some hard thinking.