3 ms·
I don't know what kind of cars your parents got, but they could have spent less. In 1970 a VW Beetle was selling for (I just looked this up) $1,874. The median
by hugh 18y ago
I don't know what kind of cars your parents got, but they could have spent less. In 1970 a VW Beetle was selling for (I just looked this up) $1,874. The median household income in those days was $8,734, so that's 21%.
Nowadays the median income is $48,000 and the cheapest new car available is a shade under $11,000, so it's near-as-dammit the same.
Of course, even the cheapest car available today (a Hyundai Accent) is vastly superior to a 1970 Beetle in just about every way. Hell, it even has six airbags and anti-lock braking.
- nostrademons 18y agoVolvo and a Toyota Corona, IIRC (not counting the lemons that my dad bought in grad school...one of them cost only $99). They wanted to be safe, which I think is still a concern among young people today. And yeah, it seems like the cost of a car as a fraction of median income has remained remarkably stable since 1918 or so. The Model-T's price dropped by about 35% in the first couple years after it was introduced, so it should also have been about 20-25% of a year's salary by then.