My dad bought a 1970 Corvette new in 1970 (when he was 20). He grew up on a farm, and made some lucky moves trading in the commodities market. In 1969, he talked a neighbor into letting him rent some land, used his dad’s farm equipment to plant/harvest some soy beans, sold them, invested the ~$500 he earned, then turned that into $5k with some well timed futures contracts. In 1975, he sold the car for the same as he paid and was able to make a substantial down payment on a duplex house that he still owns as a rental property. The modern analog is probably kids that were buying Lambos after making bank in the crypto markets.

My Subaru was a bit expensive at $18,000 but $18,000 in 1987 is worth $48,750.69 today seems a tad excessive as to cost/value.

Some are just weird outliers. Wranglers, for example, are in this inflation-proof netherworld - the sticker on mine in 2012 was $45K, to buy one in the exact same spec today is $49K. It’s cheaper to own.

We remember them being less expensive because wages don’t keep pace with inflation. Bottom line is worker x at job y can afford less car than in the past.

Interesting. My 1st new car was a 2000 Civic Si for 17,900. In today’s buying power that is 32,626 (A 2024 Si costs 29,900, assuming you can find one at MSRP.)

Now add in vehicle maintenance. Add a quart of oil almost at every fill-up. Adjust points multiple times per year. There’s a reason why old cars had full-sized spares.

What *has* changed is we’re making less money for the same work. Also, housing costs at least near me are well outpacing inflation.

“Cars weren’t inexpensive”

Shows the higher purchasing power of what the dollar once was

I still call bullshit on this kind of crap. I could get 500 dollars to buy something every week in 1990. I’m lucky to have 5000 to buy something now once a decade. And it’s not like I don’t make good money.

It’s the used prices you’re wrong about. A few years ago you could get a perfectly good working toyota pickup or Honda for like 2,000$.

I’d say the market for used cars was more inexpensive. I always heard how people usually bought their first car, running and driving, for sometimes as low as like 500 USD. Nowadays you’d be hard pressed to find a good looking roller in that price range.

inflation calculator

This is a bad metric. Inflation calculators use a standard set of goods some, like the current housing bubble, severely ballooned and affected the index a lot vs others, and doesn’t account for income.

The 1996 Geo Prizm I bought for $15k (my first brand new car), doesn’t look like such a good value anymore!

That was a bad value then. In 2003 I bought a brand new, totally optioned out (leather, mach 1000 subwoofers in the trunk, factory racing stripes and painted wheels 40th anniversary) V6 mustang for $15k.

$11K for a Mustang LX in 1987 and it could SMOKE almost anything else.

It didn’t have airbags, infotainment, MIGHT have had power windows and mirrors, probably no cruise control either. Those options are expected in any base model car now.

I didn’t have a cable bill, I didn’t have a cell phone bill. The refrigerator only had a freezer and cold box, no ice maker.

Different standard of living, different times.