Original Prices of Vitage Appliances

[eurekastar]

In 1967, my Grandmother paid $259 for a new Maytag automatic washer.  I put that number into an inflation calculator and she would pay almost $2,000 for the same washer today!

 

Why were home appliances and consumer electronics so expensive back then?  I'm assuming that cheap goods from China explains some of the cheaper cost today.  But was it also because products were higher quality then? 

 

I remember in 1966, my Dad bought our family a new Zenith color console TV.  He went to the bank and borrowed $599 to buy it!  That is $4600 in today's dollars!  Very few people would pay that much for a television these days! 

 

[sfh074]

I've often wondered the same ......

my grandparents bought a 1962 bol Frigidaire washer new and paid $199 for it. It came with free delivery though!

That's like $1700 in todays dollars. That to me just doesn't sound right.

They also paid cash for a new 1965 Chevy Biscayne which was only $1200 back then. That makes the '62 washer sound very expensive at $199 for an appliance.

Bud - Atlanta

 

[bradfordwhite]

The real question is why are most new cars TODAY so expensive?  

 

A car is just an appliance, built on the same assembly lines as washers and other appliances, so.....why the cost is so ridiculous?  

 

In terms of weight, a typical car weighs about 10X what a washer weighs so if you price a car based on weight, a washer weighing $600 means a car should cost about $6000  (600 x 10).     boom, that's where it should be.  In that arena. 

 

There's certainly nothing special about a fossil fuel powered vehicle.  There are MILLIONS of them out there, now more than ever.  The prices certainly can't be justified by rarity or importance.  AFterall, if all auto manufacturers stopped making them for two years, nobody would care or notice the difference.  There are

 

huge parking lots of new vehicles stacking up at various ports around the world where all the over capacity is quietly scuttled away in order to keep the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">new car price bubble</span> afloat.   It seems we're always dealing with bubbles. housing bubble, currency bubbles, Iphone bubble, etc.

 

You know the auto manufacturers don't give a crap when they make most of the vehicles in only a few colors with few options.  Back in 1970s, which was the top for being able to order cars in numerous colors both inside and out, it wasn't unusual to be able to choose from 20 different interior colors.  Unimaginable by today.

 

The market is saturated, not just in the U.S. but in other countries like China as well.  Auto volume sales have been falling since 2015, but the price volume has continued to climb.  That means the auto dealers are selling fewer cars for more money than ever.   

 

So WHO are the fools buying these vehicles?   It's not the millenials thats for sure.  I'm certainly not buying any petroleum based vehicles new.  

 

Now with electric cars arriving, and the market wising up to the stupidity of these over priced fossil fuel vehicles, there's going to continue to be a backing up of unsold vehicles.  That's probably why ford has stopped making cars and gm has been idling or closing factories.  

 

 

 

 

 

[potatochips]

I cant remember where I found it but the A712 I have was $1200 in 1986. Ive also seen sales slips for Inglis, which is Whirlpool, belt drive machines for around the $5-600 mark for mid 80s.

 

The Quebec government has an archive of old newspapers and flyers, you can search brand names and get their ads. Seems like most machines averaged the $3-700 range for a good MOL machine.

 

 

BAnQ numérique

Partez à la découverte de BAnQ numérique.

numerique.banq.qc.ca

 

[combo52]

A New Automobile Is Far More Complex Than A New Washer

And far higher build quality and far more durable Than major appliances are.

 

There is also a lot of competition on both cars and appliances on the popular fast selling models, so the consumer pricing is really about spot on.

 

Back in the 60s it took about 10 times as many man hours to build and assemble an appliance so real costs were much higher.

 

Cars today are far more complex than a 1965 Mustang, today you have an automobile that is at least 10 times better than what you got in 1965, and it will last at least three times as long in spite of greater complexity, and you will not die if you get into an accident while texting, LOL.

 

John L.

 

[wiskybill]

My parents first house..

Married in 1943, they bought these in the spring of 1946. Dad had come home
from Okinawa in November of 1945 in time for Thanksgiving. They had my two
oldest brothers at the time.

The washer and Frigidaire came with them in January 1951 to the new house. I joined them in the summer of 1952.

The washer lasted until 1961 or '62 doing laundry for six kids and mom got her first automatic washer and dryer, a matched set of midline Hotpoints.

The Frigidaire, still working, was replaced in the late 1960's with a
frost free GE.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

bradfordwhite wrote:

"The real question is why are most new cars TODAY so expensive? "

 

They're really not more expensive, especially for what you get. 

 

Let's look at an inexpenesive economy car from 1969 which cost about $2000.  It would have had a small six, 3-speed manual on the column, no radio, no heater, bench seats, no air conditioning, manual steering, manual brakes, no tinted glass, and no carpeting.  

 

$2000 in 1969 is about $15,000 in today's money, and you can still buy and economy car for that today, but it comes with a heck of a lot more standard equipment than the 1969 economy car did.

 

[vacerator]

Well,

you got the most weight for your dollar in the 70's, and comfort. The downsized cars from 1977 onward had higher m.s.r.p.'s, and less weight with a shorter wheelbase, length, and width. The cubic inch and horsepower race were over, as smog controls decreased power, torque, and fuel economy. The platinum catalytic convertor and unleaded gasoline dis help restore some performance, and cold start driveability, but lower final drive axle ratios for higher fuel economy didn't allow the engines to wind up. A 1975 Chevy impala, an average lower price full size car then, had a sticker price with A/C for about $4 grand US. No fm radio stanadard, but a 350 V8 2barrel carb. engine, automatic 350 turbohydramatic, and power barkes and steering were by then, along with front disk breaks from 1970.
By 1985, a 305 V8, 800 lbs. less weight, butbetter economy, if only one to two m.p.g. more. A 4 barrel carb gace better economy with a lighter foot, because the 2 primary barrels were smaller on the Quadrajet. Putting your foot on it opened the large secondary air horns, then it really was more thirsty for an extra ten horsepower.
Average lowere middle median income gross for the early 70's was between $16,000 to $30,000 US., so do the math. A modest 1200 to 1500 sq. foot home here cost about $30,000 US in 1970.
Today, many earn a gross of $40,000 to $55,000, and an average home built then is about $200,000. The entire cost to live is higher vs. median ioncomes.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

Yes, 1975 was the year that the 250 six was replaced by the 350 V8 as the standard engine in the Impala.  My info states that it had a base price of $4,600, which is about $23,000 in todays money, for a car with no air conditioning.

 

[appliguy]

sfh074 a new 1965 Chevy Biscayne cost over $2200.

I know this because my folks bought a 1963 Biscayne and it cost them $2772.40 cents with the only options being deluxe steering wheel, am radio, heater seat belts front and rear and Powerglide Drive. Did your folks get some kind of deal from the dealer or something? PATRICK COFFEY

 

[DADoES]

 
1976 LDA7800 was $369.

 

[sfh074]

Did your folks get some kind of deal from the dealer?

Not that I know of. Maybe yours got a bad deal. I threw out the receipt that I found going thru the estate about 12 years ago. Should have kept it I see. That price was before taxes, base price for the car. I remember thinking how times have changed. I drove it a few times. No radio and no air, single piston master cylinder that had one brake line going out to all 4 wheels. Talk about safety issue! In-line 6 cylinder and 2 speed powerglide. Tiny one-barrel carb. About 62 miles per hour was top speed. Anything faster and the poor motor sounded like it was going to come apart at the seams.

 

[ea56]

My Mom bought a new 1963 Chevrolet Impala 2 dr HT with a 327 V8, Powerglide, PS, PB and an AM/FM radio as the options and paid $3400.00, so the $2772.40 that Patrick’s parents paid inn 63’ for a Chevy Biscayne is right in line with the prices in 63’.

In 1969 I paid $1995.00 off the showroom floor for a new VW bug, the only option was pop out rear windows. I received the radio as a HS graduation gift from my aunt and my cousins boyfriend installed it for me.

My Mom made the deal over the phone from her desk at the doctors office that she worked in and the dealer delivered the car to her work, about 35 miles from the dealership. I of course paid for it, but she negotiated the deal and the loan for me. The loan was 5% interest for 36 mo., I put $606.00 down and the payments were $53.00 a mo., which I paid in person at the bank each month and had my car loan paymt. card stamped and initialed each time by a teller.

Eddie

 

[sfh074]

My parents bought ....

a new 73 vw super beetle off the showroom floor for $1890 out the door in San Diego . Came with dual gas tanks and the switch on the dash you had to flip back and forth to check gas levels thru the single gas gauge. Also had pop out rear side windows and windshield wiper squirters that used air pressure from the spare tire. You had to screw a rubber air line into the valve stem of the spare to make it work.

The '65 Biscayne was purchased in a small country town in NE GA that had 5 car dealerships. The nearest town that had any kind of car sales was about 35 miles headed back towards Atlanta. Perhaps the competition in this small town dictated the price.

 

[ea56]

That 73” Super Beetle Must Have Been Specially

equipped, as VW did away with the reserve tank after 61’. The older model Bugs had a reserve tank that held approx. 1 gal, because they didn’t have a fuel gauge. When the main tank ran empty the driver flipped a lever on the floor to open the reserve tank, and then needed to make haste to the next gas station,

https://volkswagenutah.wordpress.com/2013/07/23/vw-fuel-reserve-fact-of-the-day/

And getting a 73’ for $1890.00 must have also been some kind of special deal. Volkswagon’s back in the early days were the same price all over the country, no room for negotiation on the base price. This was one of their selling points, something that they included in their advertising. I bought mine from one of the first VW dealers is the USA, and I know that they were all priced the same for the base model. In fact, I owned over the years two 69’s and a 70’. WhenI bought the 70’ it was I believe $2055.00, because I bought it with the radio. The second 69’ I bought in 73’, used, and paid around $1200.00.

I believe that I still have the original window sticker for the first 69’ in a box buried under piles of old stuff, and I have no inclination to dig it out, but I’m certain it was $1995.00. I doubt that they reduced the price almost $1000.00 four years later. I remember the 70’s very well and thats when inflation was just beginning, and we were all complaining about how things were going up.

Eddie

 

[sfh074]

You are .....

the expert Eddie, but not your math skills. I am certain of the prices. Did you work as a vw salesman in a former life? I didn't. But my memory hasn't started to fail me ..... yet.

The secondary tank held almost 5 gallons and yes, you had to flip a lever on the tunnel down at the passenger side. 5 gallons allowed you to ride a couple of days more, no sweat.

Btw $1995 - $1890 = $105, not $1k

 

[appliguy]

They could not have paid $1500 less for new 1965 Biscayne

then my folks did for their brand new one back in 1963. The only possible reason I could see for that being the case was if that was the price of the 1965 after they took into consideration what your folks old car was worth in trade which maybe exactly what happened. PATRICK COFFEY

 

[sfh074]

Possibly .....

But I would think there would have been a line item on the receipt showing the discount for the trade in. But you could be right.

 

[ea56]

Re: Reply #15

Yes Bud, my math was off, sorry for the error.

And I meant no disrespect, as I hope you didn’t either. If you’ll read the link I posted, it states that the reserve tank capacity was approx.1 gal, or 25 to 30 miles before completely out of gas,

I’ve never owned a 73’ personally, but I drove a couple, and I never saw a reserve tank lever. That’s why I suggested that perhaps your parents 73’ was specially equipped, but I can’t imagine where a reserve tank would have been located, VW space was efficiently and completely used.

Eddie