Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Erie 51s ????

Exactly the same deal Jack. I remember when my dad bought a brand new Dodge pickup in 1968 for $1800. Using the same calculator that number would be $14,000 now. I haven't seen too many new pickups on the market for $14,000 lately....

...so what that is saying that if Dodge built that "exact" same truck today it would cost $14,000. However, now add on all the upgrades, new electronics, safety features, ect you get today's trucks and todays prices. I would want todays truck for my daily driver and the old truck for a fun vehicle although it would be a Ford not a Dodge. Now I get your point though but trucks are not even close to the same as they were in 1968.

Yes but todays truck will go 3 to 4 times longer than the 68 model. have all the safety features, razoo instument panel with GPS all the cameras in the world, auto this auto that climate control electric everything, real brakes and tires etc etc etc. I think today given the chance to get a truck with only the features your dad got not many would sell for 14K

I totally agree it’s not an apples to apples comparison by any means. I guess the fact that we’ve all become so addicted to the luxuries today that we forget why everything does cost so much compared to those days. That 68 Dodge was a slant six, three on the tree, with no ac or even carpet! Shoot you couldn’t even market the same vehicle now because of epa standards, safety standards, and a host of other things. Most of that is good I suppose. If you’d told me forty years ago that I could buy a 4WD pickup that would get 19 mpg and run 200,000 miles I would’ve laughed at you. Even at today’s prices that brings the two a little closer to the same value. If gas was still 21 cents....

Ive got 473K miles on my 05 Dodge, paid 33K for it new and i have done little to keep it going. Still going strong and still gets 18 mpg. The starter and alternator both went over 400k! had to replace about 4 each in the 69 dodge. I had that got 11 0r 12 with a 318 and was basically shot at 150K miles, Fenders rusted right off. motor shot..........& now we gota pay 14K for an old Erie gas pump thats shot! (I think a lot of us would) Huh why are we complaining? Lol

So if we are going to compare prices of then and now, we should look at miles traveled to and from work, vacation, running around for errands then and now; should also compare wages then and now and which vehicle is a better deal then and now, cost of repair of same vehicle then and now, i.e. cost of alternator, water pump, wheel bearings, general maintenance. Vehicles were simple work on back then and folks had the time to do a lot of the work themselves. Some folks have the ability to fix some of the issues, but do folks have the time and energy as back then. Computers and sensors have really driven up the cost of fixing vehicles. Also we travel longer and further for the above said activities generally speaking. Short distance driving is much harder on vehicles than longer distance driving.