Hot Rods $ to $ does it compare to yesteryear???

Was Roddin customs ect. easer to get into Back in the day than today????

I know $ was real then too and instrest was high I remember our house payment was $72.00 a month dad was earning $125.00 a week then workin on cars then he would go to his 2nd job workin on cars at night. The instrest was 18% on the loan too,

Question, easer then to Rod & Custom or Now???

Ant nothin easy I know that...

 

One thing's for sure---very few people actually made money on either hot rods or customs. Get yourself some '50s/'60s HRMs and check out the cl***ifieds in the back. There was a lot of "$3500 invested, will sacrifice for $1650" type deals.

 

It was cheaper in the 1960's than today.
In the late 60's you could buy a deuce with a V-8, running and registered for maybe $2500. Now that was pretty steep at the time, but that same car today would go for $50K. That's 20 times as much today.
There's no way wages for young guy have gone up 25 times since then.
Example: When I was 16, in 1967, I made $1.40 an hour at a gas station.
A teenage today wouldn't make $35 an hour at a gas station, which is 25X's $1.40 per hour.

 

I'm the same age as Mazooma, since I was 16 in 67 too. Made the same $1.40 working in the summer at my dad's contracting business doing every **** job the regular employees didn't care to do. $1.40 was minimum wage at that time.

I had a 56 Chevy 150 2 dr sedan at that time. Paid $150 for it at the local Chevy dealership where someone had traded it in. Drove it a while as is without doing anything to it. Had to redo the fenders above the headlites due to rust, but there was no other rust in it. Pretty much the going price for that car, in that condition, at that time.

Had a '40 ford 2 dr sedan year or so later, nice body, 200 bucks. Bought a '40 4 dr sedan, nothing but frame ahead of the firewall, but absolutely cherry body with original paint, for $10 in 69. Paid the local wrecker/junkyard guy another $10 to go pick it up for me and bring it home. Bought it for the frame, because the frame on the other 40 had been cobbled on, sold one door to a local body shop that was looking for one to repair a restored 40 that had been wrecked. Got $150 for the door and thought I was rich for couple days The right side front door and both rear doors are still sitting in my dad's ba*****t where they've been for 40 yrs now. Eventually s****ped the remainder of the body since nobody wanted to rod or restore a 4 door 40 back then. Still makes me sick to think about how perfect that body was. Anyone needs 3 nice doors, I can fix em right up

Another one, 39 Chevy coupe, belonged to guy who lived behind us. Nice body too. Told me I could have it free, but my mom wouldn't let me drag it home since I had the 56 and both 40's already at the house. He later sold that one for $50 to a buddy of mine. People down the street had a 40 Chevy coupe that had been on blocks since the 50's. Kinda wierd guy, wouldn't even talk about selling it. Then one day he sells it for $25. Looked decent but I never looked at it close since I didn't have much desire to be around him.

So yeah, cars were a bunch cheaper back then, due to difference in demand and supply as compared to now. But parts prices back then were higher in comparison to wages than they are today.

15 x 8.5 American Torq Thrusts were about $60 then, and about 3 times that much today. Small block Ford or Chevy dual plane manifolds are 2 to 3 times as much today as they were back then. If you figure the sticker price on a performance car today is about 10X what it was 40 yrs ago, its hard to find many aftermarket parts that have increased by anything near that much in the last 40 yrs.

So, for the guy who's doing as much as he can by his own efforts, if he can stand the price of the car itself, then most of the parts will be cheaper as measured in constant dollars. Its the price of the car itself that's so rough on the wallet.

I won't bother to even mention the original 4 cyl 32 5 window I coulda driven home in 71 when I was in college for $1100. Didn't want it because it wasn't a 3 window. Doubt you'll be wanting to get up with me for any long term investment advice

 

Hell,Iwas born in 51, at age of 16,bought a 55 THUNDERBIRD for $800 dollars went into ARMY at age of 18 and was getting paid a whopping $53 a month ,even early to mid 70"s could buy a new car or truck for $6,000. AS soon as they started the emission and computers in cars,prices went through the roof ,all they cared about was quan***y ,not quality.Back then,if you were the repo man you didn"t get much work,mechanics were honest!!,parts were good quality there wasn"t such a thing as aftermarket dealers getting rich.JUST MY TAKE ON THINGS!!

 

Back in about '70 I bought a 55 chevy Belare in perfect running shape from my grandfather for $150 bucks. If you consider the minimum wage then was about $1.10 and hour, it took a while to save the $150. After I blew up the old 235 six that was in it, I bought a 396 with 400TH for $400. By then I was probably making $1.25/hour. Now do a little math and you can look at those prices and compare with todays prices. I think most people will be surprised to see how it's never been a cheap hobby. Oh and premium fuel at the Sinclair gas station I worked at was .35 cents/gal. I could fill up the 55 for not much more than $6.00 with the good stuff. I would fill it up, drive to the dragstrip, prep it for racing all afternoon and into the night, and then drive it home. Not a bad package (lots of entertainment and fun) for about $6.00 huh?

 

Hot rodding back in the day meant taking a 20-30 year old car that hardly anyone wanted and fixing it up. They weren't collectible, they were just old.

These days there are plenty of 20-30 year old cars that can be had quite cheap and have plenty of performance potential. So I think it's just as easy and probably even cheaper in real dollars.

 

$6 @ $1.25/hr = 4.8 hours (not deducting take outs of course)
$6/$.35 = 17 gal
17 gal X $3 = $51
say you make $15/hr now
$51/$15 = 3.4 hours = better deal now

 

In 1960-'61, I was taking home $37.40 for a 40 hour work week...I bought a 3 year old '57 Chevy, on payments with that much...and still had money left over for girls, beer and gas...

However, money is relative...wages go up, the price of everything goes up...nothing ever comes down...and in terms of cost today versus cost then, it's close to the same.

R-

 

This might help a little.
Looks like .35 gas in 1965 would be 2.39 in 2008.

Current data is only available till 2008. $2.39 in the year 2008 has the same "purchase power" as $0.35 in the year 1965.
Larry T

http://www.measuringworth.com/ppowerus/

 

yeah, but 1.25 was min wage, so you should really compare it to min wage of today, so 51/7.25 hr = 7 hours = better deal then.

 

This is something that a lot of people seem to lose sight of. If you could go back to 1965 and question everyone that was driving an old Ford or '55-'57 Chevy, you'd find that many of them read HRM, Car Craft, or PHR, and would have liked to be able to buy a 427 Galaxie, or 409 Impala, or GTO, but they were too broke, so they did the best they could with what their meager finances would allow. Fast forward fifteen years, and I was the young kid buying a '64 GTO for $400.00.

 

......and this little dumplin would set you back a little over $25,000.00 now.

 

The 60's? Heck in 1977 I could have bought a perfect 1956 210 2 door, 235 3 speed on the column for $1500. That was pretty big money for a stock 56 back then but achievable for a 16 year old.

No 16 year could afford that car today. In 79 I p***ed on a 57 Chevy 2 door post in nice driver condition (non original drivetrain, later buckets, etc) for $750 because I had my eye on the 1967 GTO convertible I bought for $1100.

 

$ to $ does it compare.........

Yep, pretty much. In 1959 I sold my '51 Ford for $200, used that for a down payment and bought a new Chivvy for about two thousand, worked at a welding shop for $1 an hour. To this day I haven't figured out how the bank that floated the loan figured I could make the payments. If you do the math you'll be able to figure out why they repossessed the car six months later....................

 

Twenty years ago was 1990. What kind of 1990 car could ever be considered a hot rod? Thirty years ago-1980-maybe even worse.

 

cars cheaper cause of supply/demand but the reality of it is LOTS of parts were WAY WAY WAY more money! lots of those tihngs we sell for used and vintage now for what tehy cost NEW in the 60s! wheels, intakes, cams, valve covers.. things like that were mega cash if you look at it....

 

"Well I saved my pennies and saved my dimes....so I could buy a brand new 409..."

Seems that a HS Kid could buy a decent car with a part time job back then. Good luck doing that today. Just the insurance alone will break your piggy bank.

When I was a kid a new house was $35,000 and a new car was $3,500. Now a house is $350K and a car is $35K.

 

Consider in the middle late 60's a brand new car ran from $2500 to $4000+, the average annual wage was $5000 - $7000.

Now new cars cost $28,000 - $40,000 and the average wage is $38,000 - $45,000

I realize I am comparing new **** to cl***ics, but its not necessarily the cost of the cl***ic its the cost to reproduce or restore that cl***ic. The cost of quality paint and body work, the cost of chrome has certainly outpaced inflation. Now a couple years ago at the height of the B&J insanity paying $200k+ for a desirable cl***ic was common, now I see them being sold for less than the cost of the paint and chrome.

 

If you can believe the egg heads the cost of goods Vs the pay rate is about the same given the rate of inflation from 'back in the day'. All I know is I'm as broke as ever, only worse. Very few, if any, performance cars later than '68 could raise a lot interest from me. I think the real factor in the cost these days is the rarity of the most desirable stuff. Simple supply/demand.

 

Minimum wage in 1967 was $1.00 acccording to the US Dept of Labor. $1.15 in 68 and 1.30 in 69. So if you were making $1.40 you were steppin in high cotton- 40% over minimum wage!
According to convention investment wisdom, that 1967 one dollar is worth about $6.56 today in buying power. Since the minimum wage, at least here in California is now $8.00 (and $9.79 in San Francisco) many would say we are better off now!

 

The price of a lot of the cars has been driven up by the speculators much more than by legitimate rodders or restorers.

In the mid 70's I bought a 68 442 convertible for $150 from my sister in law. The car had a bunch of small dents and dings, but not a speck of rust since it was a Georgia (no salt) car. Drove it back and forth to work for a couple years. I really never thought of doing anything much with it, mainly because it had air, power everything, tilt wheel, and about every other imaginable option. Hell, back then nobody had any real interest in a muscle car loaded up with options.

If it had been a hardtop, no options and 4 speed that woulda been a different story. Eventually parted it out for about 800 bucks total. Who'da thought all those options would make that car worth twice as much today as it would've been worth if it was a stripper.

All of us could be rich off the speculators if our foresight was as good as our hindsight. Personally, I always enjoy watching when the latest bubble pops and the speculators who didn't know **** lose their ***es on the stuff they thought they'd get rich on. Problem is, whenever the car speculator bubble pops the prices may drop but they never really get back into a range thats affordable for the average guy.

 

In 1980 I bought a 68 cutl*** supreme 2 door hard top in good shape for $500
In 1985 I could have got a 69 396 4 sp SS chevelle for $2500, I could not afford it
I am sure it was #'s matching .Both are worth 10 times that now

 

I think it's the same idea throughout the years. I'll probably get a lot of **** for this one but when I was in high school the fox body mustang was the "model a" of the time period. Fast, light, and relatively cheap to soup up.

 

Sorry, I was comparing fair minimum wages, not actual ones. Around here, $15/hr. is not even enough to be considered minimum for much of anything. Not sure how $1.25 compared back then to what a decent average wage was. I was pretty young then and wasn't quite old enough to have a car or any real job. But by the late 70's, I only ever had min. wage jobs and still couldn't afford a car, let alone needing to worry about how much gas was for it.

 

So this kinda kills the idea that building hotrods "back in the day" was a lot cheaper than it is now??

 

It's really tough to come up with comparisons that take in all factors, let alone what factors should be included. Because of inflation, "bracket creep" has increased taxes a lot. New technology has increased compe***ion for our dollars. No internet, cable, or cell phone bills to pay instead of aftermarket car parts to spend money on. These factors go beyond a strict dollar vs hourly pay vs cost of cars or parts. In the 50s & 60s, a lot of parts had to be hand or custom made. Low material price, high time/labor costs. Capital intensive itmes such as custom cams were very expensive. Today we have lots of stuff in catalogs if that's what you want. Lots of tools and fabrication equipment available also. The internet has created a viable world wide market place. All in all, I say we are currently living in "the good old days" of the hobby right now. Appreciate and enjoy it.

 

That reduced rate was applicable only to certain people who'd never been covered under the minimum wage laws prior to 1966, and only in certain types of businesses. If you did any sort of contract work for the government, you were subject to the full minimum wage of $1.40 rather than the cheapskate rate which was the same as the agricultural minimum wage for a few years along at that time. We did a lot of school and college construction work, and all that has federal money, so I got the $1.40 as minimum wage.

 

My Dad would cars for free or pay a few hundred and these were very nice used cars not junk. He paid $200 for a 1951 Merc convertible back in 1955. He was offered to take home for free a: 57 t-bird, 65 mustang convertible, 55 Porche speedster. He bought my brother back in 67 a 56 corvette for $500. He bought in the early 70's a one owner 63 Impala SS for $150 running and all orginal. My brother bought a 69 Chevelle SS 396, orginal, in excellent condition for $200

 

I'd agree with all of that. In car stuff, cnc manufacturing has had a big effect on keeping prices of parts affordable. Take the aluminum intake that cost $60 in 69 and $130 today. In 69 it probably took at least 20 minutes total to machine the casting on a series of manual mills, including transfer and setup times. Today, the same manifold can be machined in 2 minutes or less in a 4 axis horizontal machining center, and as soon as its done the 2nd pallet indexes into place and work starts on that casting while the operator removes the first finished part and loads another blank casting on the pallet.

Wheels are another good example where technology has kept prices cheaper than overall price inflation would suggest. In 69 the rim contour would've likely been machined on a tracer lathe. The faces may have as well, depending on whether or not any curved surfaces were machined. Then the wheel was p***ed on to another operator running probably a big drill press with multiple drills that popped all the lug holes thru in one p***, and to a 3rd operator who placed the wheel in a fixture to drill and counterbore the valve hole.

Today, a wheel cell is made up of a cnc lathe built specially for machining wheels, and it cuts whatever is programmed on the face and rim contour. A robot sits between the lathe and a cnc machining center to complete the cell. It grabs the wheel and turns it around in the lathe chuck to do the backside turning, moves the turned wheel to the machining center for bolt and valve holes, and generally does all loading and unloading of the wheels in and out of both machines totally hands off. I doubt if the entire machining process on a Torq Thrust wheel takes any more than 3 minutes in one of these cells, and possibly way less than that.

Done by old school methods, most any part out there would cost twice or 3 times what it costs today. Most aftermarket automotive companies would've disappeared because so few people would've been able to afford to buy any of their stuff.