Ah yes, the good old days. When gas cost pennies per gallon, you could rent genuine Shelby Mustangs from Hertz, and the cops didn’t have radar. When Toyota was still an obscure Japanese automaker, Hyundai was still in the construction business, and Motown still dazzled the world with brazen displays of power and performance and style. When sex was safe, and racing dangerous. As Frank Markus points out in our Hot Rod Time Machine cover story, one of the common refrains about the good old days is that you got more car for your money. When you look at the prices — $3000 to $4000 would buy you a decent ponycar in the late 1960s — the good old days certainly seem great. But today’s cars deliver a degree of functionality and durability, safety and quality, performance and efficiency that could scarcely be imagined back then. So are we really getting a raw deal today?
I pulled the Motor Trend back-issue file from 1961 to see what cars customers could buy 50 year ago, and how much they cost. To make a valid value comparison with today’s cars, I considered their affordability in terms of average weekly earnings, using Social Security Administration data that show the average American earned $78.59 per week in 1961, and $782.92 per week in 2009 — the most recent figure available. The results are fascinating.
For example, the average American had to work 35 weeks to buy a regular Ford Galaxie V-8 sedan in 1961, and that’s exactly the same time it takes to earn the money to buy the Galaxie’s spiritual successor, a Taurus SEL, today. The Taurus boasts 88 more horses, is 9 seconds faster to 60 mph, and travels up to 9 miles farther on a gallon of gas. Similarly, a base 1961 Falcon sedan cost the same as a base 2011 Fusion — 25 weeks’ earnings — while a Mercedes 190 and Jaguar 3.8 also cost the same in 1961 — 43 weeks’ earnings and 67 weeks’ earnings, respectively — as their modern counterparts, the C300 Sport and XF.
Some cars have even become more affordable. While you needed 21 weeks’ earnings to buy a 1961 Datsun, you can get a base Nissan Versa for just 16 weeks’ earnings today. Similarly, you need work only 19 weeks to buy a new VW Jetta sedan, whereas a 1961 Beetle took 21 weeks. And according to our test numbers, the little Datsun took 27.5 seconds to reach 60 mph, while the Beetle needed 22 seconds. And both used more gas than their modern counterparts.
For some cars, the good old days were, for pure affordability, really good. A 1961 Impala SS 409 took 42 weeks’ earnings to buy, while you’ll need to work 79 weeks to afford the nearest thing GM offers today, a Cadillac CTS-V sedan. It now takes three more weeks to earn the money to buy a base C6 Corvette than it did to land a C1 Fuelie back in 1961.
Consider what your extra labor buys you, though: The CTS-V effectively costs 92 percent more than the Impala SS, but its supercharged V-8 makes 55 percent more power and will get you to 60 mph 42 percent quicker. Today’s base C6 is an absolute steal: An extra 6 percent at the daily grind compared with 1961 buys you 38 percent more grunt and gets you to 60 in almost half the time.
Our Hot Rod Time Machine cover story takes a look at three of America’s most iconic ponycars, the Chevy Camaro, Ford Mustang, and Dodge Challenger. The differences between perception and reality are fascinating. The old cars are cool to look at and fun to drive if you have nowhere to go and all day to get there. But in the context of their 21st-century descendents, they are slow, dirty, and dangerous.
Nostalgia is a seductive thing. View today’s world through the prism of the past, and it seems less certain and more confrontational. Nostalgia is comfortable and cozy; emotional cashmere. Don’t get me wrong: I love classic cars, vintage cocktails, and old watches. But I’m with Will Rogers: “Things ain’t what they used to be, and probably never was.”
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