When I purchased my 1st 1968 Charger R/T,
in summer of 1974 @ 15 y/o
I was making or started at $1.65 an/hr, + bonuses
working at a Shell station, in rural Ca., 24 hrs a week
I paid $350 for the Charger, it was a good deal even then
I bought it from a neighbor lady, that recently got divorced
she needed the $$$, that was about all the $$$ I had saved
& I worked for 212+ hrs, after taxes probably something like 270+ hrs,
because I had to spend some of my earnings on gas in my Hodaka
to get back & forth to work, some 12 miles back & forth from my home
2nd gen Chargers were going for like $500+ -$1,000, maybe $1500 in my area
they were just another used car,
gas prices just doubled to like $0.50 + cents
"to say the least, they've increased seriously in value"
near if not 20 fold, $70,000 'in the same condition today'
that'd be the equivalent of $33-$35+ an/hr income today,
about what I was making at 25 y/o, to buy the same car,
same hrs, same condition etc.
the new #'s seems about right
everything is relative, work is work
I worked all summer to earn that
those were the days, but I still had to work hard to earn it
just like people do today, there's not much difference
other than a 15 y/o isn't probably making $33 an/hr
'maybe' $15 an/hr & most 1968 Chargers aren't going to be
in that near perfect condition either, many would be far less in value
I remember when a '$5,000 Hemi car', was out of reach for me
in that same era, it was completely out of my reach
that's nuts to think I couldn't have bought a $5k Hemi car
yep stuff was cheaper
but we didn't have as much $$$ back then either
it's really an apple to oranges comparison
when people say cars were cheap, cheap is relative to the era
oh what I'd give to have a time machine