Wow, for $830 bucks you get a brand new car back in the days. They’ll be saying something similar 70 years from now.
That comes to about $17500 today using an inflation calculator.
Which is far lower than a new car costs today.
If you hunt you can still find them in the 18-20k range. But you get cheap shit like a Nissan Versa, tiny compacts with bad drivetrains. Not a higher trim boat like that 1941 is.
Sure, the Versa is a crummy, low trim model. But look at what you get in the Versa compared to the Pontiac despite that:
- Fuel injection
- Front disc brakes
- Power brakes
- Automatic transmission
- FM radio
- Bluetooth
- Backup camera
- A damn rear view mirror (Wikipedia says this was optional on the Pontiac)
- Air conditioning
- Power steering
- Airbags
- Crumple zones
- Seat belts
- Traction control
- Anti-lock brakes
- Same power, but vastly improved fuel economy
- 1,000 lbs of weight savings
- Radial tires
- Halogen headlights
- Reverse lights
The list goes on I’m sure. It costs more because you get so much more stuff, a lot of which is for safety.
Yeah, these older cars went slower and were death traps. The passenger cabin was the “crumple zone”. People went flying through the windshield in a crash that would be easily survivable by the 80s.
At least it was safety glass (mandated in 1937). Yeah old cars are terrifying. Cool but terrifying.
On top of that, the odometer only went to 99,999 before resetting. Implying they didn’t intend the vehicles to last much longer than 100k miles.
And you had to do more service more often such as tune ups for adjusting points ignition. And I think in some engines, adjusting valve lash since hydraulic lifters didn’t become ubiquitous until later?
The Nissan is indeed an objectively “Better” car, but compared to it’s market (as the Pontiac is comparing itself to it’s own market) it is still a crummy car.
The fact is that all those (legally mandated) improvements do make them more expensive overall.
And certainly not something you can upgrade to a V8 for an extra $25.
And its made entirely of steel!
Good ol American union steel!
