The passage of time has its upsides. One of these is perspective. If you experienced something many years ago, it sheds light on the experience of today.
Back in the early ’90s, I bought what was at the time just an old car – my 1976 Pontiac Trans-Am. Today – 33 years later – it is a classic car. I still have this car, which is why I am able to own it. I certainly could not afford to buy today what I was able to afford 33 years ago, when I was a young guy in my 20s and not earning much money – because it would take a lot more money to buy a car comparable to my car today. More than I can afford, at any rate – and I am now 33 years older, too.
It’s not just inflation, though that hasn’t helped. It is also financing. The near-necessity of it, I mean. Back when I bought my car, it was relatively easy for a young guy to save up enough in cash to buy an interesting old car. Not just a beater. Something actually cool – as we used to say back then. Like a bright orange ’70s Trans-Am, for instance
I have mentioned in previous articles that I also owned a number of other old cars, as was usual for young guys back in those days. For example, the ’74 Beetle I bought for $700 when I was just out of college. It wasn’t hard at all to save up $700 back then. Today, $700 will buy you a set tires or a brake job – maybe. Not a car. Not an operable one at any rate. The Beetle was. I drove it to work every day in DC traffic for several years. And – as an aside – it cost about $30 to buy a tire for the Beetle back then and the Beetle’s brakes were free of electronics and so a brake job could be done by anyone with some basic hand tools and the willingness to get their hands dirty. 
Anyhow, I bought my ’76 TA – which was a one-owner, low-miles car in excellent condition – for $5,000. I still have the bill of sale. Inflation has devalued the buying power of the money we’re forced to use so severely that it would take about $12,000 today to possess equivalent purchasing power. This would not be so bad if people were being paid the equivalent dollars (i.e., more of them) to make up for the devaluation. The problem is few are, which is why it’s more of a reach today to come up with $12,000 in cash than it was to come up with $5,000 in cash 33 years ago.
So, even assuming a car like my TA were available today for the equivalent of $5,000 (about $12,000 in today’s dollars) there probably aren’t many people in their 20s (who are just beginning their working lives) who could come up with that kind of money in cash.
They’d need to finance the purchase.
The problem there – as regards old cars – is that interest rates on loans for such are usually much higher, which makes the total cost higher. You’d also have to factor in the cost of a full-coverage insurance policy because lenders require this as a condition of the loan. I despise the insurance mafia because of the way it has leveraged the government’s thug-power to compel people to purchase what it sells, but it’s entirely legitimate for a lender to require insurance on a vehicle you have not fully paid for.
When you buy a vehicle in cash, as I did and many others also did, you had the option of going with a much-less-expensive, liability-only policy. I did that because I didn’t have the money or the interest in paying the insurance mafia for the additional “coverage.” I was willing to run the risk that I might have to deal with the cost of damage to my car on my own nickel if I got into an accident – because I was confident that would probably not happen. America was different then. People were allowed to assess risk and make their own risk-reward valuations. 
The upside was that by saving the money that would otherwise have gone to the mafia – and also the interest that would have gone to a lender – I was able to afford to buy a cool old car like the one I still have, at a time when I didn’t have much money to spend on an old car.
I could not afford to buy my car today – not in cash, at any rate – because even though it is 33 years later I’m not making enough money to make up for the devaluation of the buying power of money. How many people in their 50s have the ability to write a check for $12k today? Some, perhaps. Most would have to apply for a loan and make the payments and pay the interest and the cost of the full coverage insurance. And – good luck finding a car like my ’76 TA available for sale for $12k today. That sum might buy you a project car in need of a lot of work. A car like mine with low miles in excellent shape that can still win a trophy at an old car show would cost you at least 2-3 times as much.
This is why – when you go to an old car show – you mostly see old guys, like me. It is quite a change from the way it was back in the ’90s, when old car shows were full of young guys showing off what they had and admiring what the other guys had. Twenty or 30 years from now, who will be seen at old car shows, after all the old guys are gone?
It was fun while it lasted!
. . .
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Eric,
I could afford to buy an old car in the condition of your old TA; the problem for me would be KEEPING it! For a classic like that, I’d need a garage for it. While I have a garage where I live, it’s a one car garage, and I keep my daily driver in it; with the cost of new cars, it’s prudent to care for your daily driver, so it lasts longer. Plus, I want to keep it protected, so no one vandalizes it. If I had an old car, I’d have to rent another garage in my area-assuming one were available nearby. That would cost extra money-money that I’d rather spend for other things.
One of those other things is precious metals. Because of the devaluation of the dollar, I’m buying gold and silver monthly through one of David Knight’s sponsors, Wise Wolf Gold. They have a subscription option, which allows you to buy the amount of precious metals you can afford monthly; basically, it allows you to acquire metals via dollar cost averaging for a monthly amount you can afford. In these days and times, I think it’s better to buy precious metals vs. buying an old car.
I hear you, Mark –
A year ago, I began prepping for a garage addition I was planning to build. Leveled out the spot, framed it in and dumped in several inches of gravel. It’s ready for concrete but I can’t afford to get it (thanks, Trump) because a 20×12 pour will run me around $2k last time I checked. So I only have indoor space for two my TA and the truck (the bikes get snugged up against the wall). Well, at least the firewood’s free!
Eric,
Bikes are small enough to keep IN your house! That’s what I do with mine-keep it in my house; it frees up the garage for my car. Besides, you could enjoy ogling Little Stinker during the winter months… 🙂
That’s true, Mark!
I used to keep Little Stinker in my office… when I was single!
A lot of us boomers, as we turned eighteen, found ourselves trying to figure out what’s next under the black cloud of a thing called the draft. To those who think we had it too easy, try that on.
Oh, I dunno. I just sold a 1987 Toyota 4WD XtraCab that I was the 3rd owner. I inherited it a few years from the 2nd owner, who owned it since 1999. It was the truck he bought to replace one that was stolen. He paid $5,000 when he got it.
It wasn’t pristine but in fine shape. I enjoyed owning it but it was superfluous to my fleet. Low mileage, body and frame rust-free but the pickup box was getting some cancer. Pretty typical for these era Toyotas. I just rebuilt the head, new headgasket, new clutch. Mechanically sound, it ran good, just shy of 200,000 miles.
Sold it for $11,000 to a young man who I’d guess was about 25 or so. He paid cash. The price was pretty typical for these trucks now and does sound like a lot to me, but falls just on the high side of the inflation calculators.
The way we were in the 90s is still possible if you really want it to be.
When I was in my single digits (Age; not IQ)- Late 1960’s/early 70’s, we’d often take family strolls along Shore Rd. which was a two-lane road with a large park on one side, and the river on the other side. It was a place where teens and early 20-somethings would park their cars and hang out. I always remember those cars: Every then late-model muscle car. Mustangs and Chargers and ‘Cudas and Roadrunners and GTOs and Camaros, etc. in every color and configuration.
Very few teens or early 20’s could afford the equivalent of those cars today (And wouldn’t have time to leisurely hang out on Shore Rd if they signed up for the debt and insurance required to do so), and they certainly couldn’t afford those actual now 50 year-old cars today- and neither can I!
As a frequenter or car shows, I have to say I see a lot of younger guys (and some gals!) with old cars on display. Granted, they are usually “projects” that are rough around the edges, but that’s OK. A bunch of young people just bring their cars out to show off because they love them, even if they are late model or a little junky.
Some of the older guys snub them, but that’s not what I do. I make a point to compliment them on their work and encourage them to keep going.
Also see a lot of little kids get excited about the old cars. Eyes wide asking dad lots of questions. I usually open the door and let them sit in the driver’s seat.
Good job Philo. This is how its done.
I learned a lot from the mistakes of the previous generation. On a personal level I wont be repeating those mistakes. My kids kids are single digit to early teens. Of the age where they need understanding and guidance, with us having their back, not competing against them at their expense.
Our generation got the ‘work harder quit complaining, be more like Juan the gardener’ attitude. It would be nice if the Zs and beyond got, ‘Lets work to see what we can do together to topple this corrupt system and give you a brighter future.’
Older cars are a way to spark something inside them. It shows them that nice things are possible when you have a high trust society.
While I agree with the subject, I just want to say what a great song Time Passages is. Thanks for including it in the article Eric!
My pleasure, Klink!
Indeed, Time Passages is a beautiful song. The album (Time Passages), like Year Of The Cat, was produced by Alan Parsons, which helps to explain why it is so great – “quality workmanship,” sadly lacking in today’s music.
Year Of The Cat is one of my favorite songs, which I use to check out new equipment such as headphones.
My sister took piano lessons throughout grade school. As she got better her teacher gave her harder pieces to learn. One of them was The Year of The Cat. I remember she spent hours and hours working out the opening. But she got it, and oh boy did it sound great.
Quality workmanship, and real talent combined for great music. Caught a Frank Sinatra song on Pandora the other night. Wasn’t a fan as a kid, but gave this one a listen and wasn’t disappointed. Of course remixed and cleaned up and “Frankly” the result was great. His talent came shining through and the band accompaniment was tight, sharp, real musical craftsmanship.
Recent Sparkey house rule implemented – no TV during dinner and early evening – music only. Rediscovering how relaxing it is. Lots of great old stuff for listening pleasure.
Hi Sparkey,
“no TV during dinner and early evening – music only”
That is the rule in our house….and NO PHONES at the table (I don’t even want to see them).
I constantly have music playing all times of the day (driving to/from work, at work, at home, etc. At dinner we usually put on jazz or bossa nova and we sit around the table like a Norman Rockwell painting. We talk about our day, current events, and anything else that strikes our fancy.
Huh, “early evening – music only.” Hadn’t thought of that. Not a bad idea.
Already doing the no TeeVee during mealtimes for quite awhile, sure is a contrast to those I know who pop up the TV Dinner Tray & plop down into the Lazy Boy & watch something gruesome while they eat. …Fall asleep while watching it, too.
I use the old rule from the 70’s as well: don’t answer the telephone at meal times. Back then, I seem to recall it was considered rude to even try to call someone during evening meal times.
…And, eat while talking to someone while on the phone. Had that happen recently & was a bit surprised at how I felt about that. It was more than rude, not sure what to call it.
…Icky?
Hi helot,
A pet peeve of mine…on the phone while eating. Personally, it makes me feel inconsequential, almost worthless. If two people (or a group) are conversing over a meal then someone’s phone goes off and they are yakking for the next 5-10 minutes you have the “joy” of listening to half of their conversation as you sit there wondering if slurping your soup would be a viable comeback for them ruining your meal.
Nothing is sadder than watching two people sitting at a restaurant and both of them have their phones in their hand. What is wrong with people?
“don’t answer the telephone at meal times“
I’ve tried to get this across to family in town. My put – the phone serves me, I don’t serve the phone. Leave a message or a text.
when the booomers go, the value of the cars they prize will crash. It will probably be like the market for a regular 30s or 40s car now. The special stuff will always be expensive, but regular cars like a ford model A that run usually can be had between a drivable $5000 to $20000 for a nice one
Hi Anchar,
Respectfully, I disagree. If the Boomers pass in the next 5-15 years we will be around the 10 year mark on most of these “techy” cars. I believe the nannified cars of today will make the older cars more valuable, because there will be so few of them. One can only have so much patience when their computer screen goes out for the tenth time and let’s be honest, the manufacturing of newer cars is absolute crap. They are using plastic over metal, the complexity of the newer technology, and the sole focus is shareholder profit and not customer satisfaction. I think these twenty year old Porsches and Beemers sitting around the $10K today will end up skyrocketing. And if I am wrong…at least they are fun to drive. 🙂
He’s probably right. He’s not talking about the new cars they own now but the classics they’ve built as mid life crisis or retirement projects. They’re going to come flooding on the market since their kids either already have their own projects or just don’t want them. I’m seeing this in my world with 4WD Toyotas, some of which skyrocketed about 10 year ago and during COnVID but are now nose diving in ask price. They aren’t going for cheap exactly but a car that would get an immediate bidding war just 3 or 4 years ago now sits on Facebook Marketplace for a couple of weeks and goes for a reasonable price.
Hi Keith,
What is flooding the market now is the Boomers collection of cars. They are selling them to pay for medical needs and retirement homes. The youngest Boomer is 61 years of age. A sixty one year old may be able to get in and out of a 1967 Ford Mustang, but for most 79 year olds it is much more difficult. Also, there may be a few Jay Lenos of the world that own 180 cars, but most Boomers may have one sedan, minivan, or crossover between them. They aren’t hiding 1970 Chevelles or 1957 Ford Thunderbirds in their barns.
I hope you’re right, RG –
I’d like to get my hands on a Chrysler Cordoba... with T-tops,please.
Here you go…right down the road in Fredericksburg (give or take 4 hours).
https://classiccardb.com/chrysler/292526-1977-chrysler-cordoba-black-t-top.html
And since there is no price apparently it is free! 😉
Isn’t it fine, RG?
I mean, look at those “thickly cushioned seats” . . . available even in soft, Corinthian leather!
And now we know why so many teenagers lost their virginity in one. 🙂
Totally! (This would be hard to do in a ’76 TA…)
Hello! The main issue I have with your point is that it seems to assume the average person can still fix and maintain their own stuff, and the younger people have a harder time even starting to learn with today’s cars. If they could, I would totally agree with you but to Keith’s point, I was referring to the retirement projects and that generation’s favorite cars. I would expect housing, guns…all their favorite stuff to get cheaper too when they get into nursing homes.
Hi Anchar,
I agree with you that most people are not mechanically inclined, but I am pleasantly surprised with Gen Z. These kids are resourceful…sure some of them are idiots, but I think they are looking at the world through a new set of eyes that us, Gen Xers and Millennials, did not.
My neighbor’s 25 year old son owns a mechanic shop. All of the guys in it are guys he went to school with that taught themselves how to work on cars in their driveway. The place is constantly bustling. Maybe the city boys don’t know how to identify what is underneath a hood, but country boys cut their teeth on it. When there is no one within 25 miles you learn to fix it or go without.
Speaking of Model As… you know what’s really WEIRD? I remember a neighbor restoring a Model A in the 1970s, when I was a kid. It seemed like an OLD car even then… but it was only 40 years old!
Today, a 1985 model is forty years old — and I remember 1985 cars like it was yesterday! (…so does Eric, obviously).
I remember seeing a B-17 fly over my college town in the early 1980s as a freshman… that plane was only 40 years old back then!
Shit, I even voted for Reagan, I’m so old! I’m starting to realize that I’ll be DEAD in 20 years… WTF, man!!
Maybe we are just getting to be a old farts, and like all old farts throughout history, we sit around and bitch about how things aren’t the way they used to be????
A related bit: ‘John Stossel: The myth of the good old days’
“the old people in the comments who could remember that time were going on and on about how much better “everything” was back then and how they wish they could go back.”…
https://www.lewrockwell.com/political-theatre/john-stossel-the-myth-of-the-good-old-days/
The “time shift” gets creepier as you get older. At 70, I do this often. I waxed the 91 Silverado yesterday. Humm, it’s 34 soon to be 35. So, it would be like driving mom’s ‘67 Polara in 2001, yeesh! Seems like yesterday!
Hi Sparkey,
My ’02 Nissan Frontier will be eligible for Antique tags soon!
My nephews are probably the exception. They both work at the Walmart distribution center. Full time at 36 hrs/week on Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the graveyard shift. They pick and pack loads all night, which gives them a great workout depending on what part of the warehouse they’re in (try loading up dry dog food for 8 hours, you’ll probably feel it). Starting wage was $38/hr at the time they started back in 2023. If they exceed their load quota for the day they get a bonus, and if they exceed for a certain number of days they get another bonus. The rest of the week is theirs to do whatever, they have full time benefits and the younger one is taking online college courses paid for by Walmart.
The older nephew drives a fairly new Wrangler that he’s customizing for backwoods and overlanding. The younger nephew wanted a smoother ride so he’s got a Subaru Outback Wilderness. Of course they’re financed thanks to my sister’s credit and probably on her insurance too, but they’re paying her, not the other way around.
Is it the same as buying a 1970-1980s Wrangler or XJ and keeping it running? Not at all, but probably not too much more expensive either. Trying to track down a cheap 80’s Jeep that isn’t clapped out or full of the previous owner’s incompetence is getting hard to do these days. And their dad filled the garage up with his stuff so they don’t have much room to wrench either.
Why would a kid spend time and money preparing to earn only a bit more in a STEM field when the manual labor in a warehouse you point out pays that much?
Its a dogs life
He is talented and intelligent enough to possibly thrive in the software industry. If he can be disciplined enough to push himself. Because right now he’s coasting. If he’s like his father as soon as he doesn’t ace a class he’ll drop out and blame everyone else, but I think my sister will keep him on target.
Indeed. When the software business is being taken over and eventually destroyed by leftists and jeets, there is very little motivation for the local talent to work in high tech. I’ve known many guys who worked in industrial automation, the pay isnt worth it, the stress never ends, and many end up going to something like manual labor or truck driving. Not that I don’t respect both, but the point is doing an above and beyond job with no substantial reward or advancement is not a winning proposition.
“This is why – when you go to an old car show – you mostly see old guys, like me.”
You mostly see guys OLDER than you — Boomers, not Xers. Every time I see a Mustang or Corvette around here it is has some 70+ guy behind the wheel.
I hate to get into the generational politics game here, but for my entire life (I am an Xer) I have felt frustrated at having been overshadowed by the Boomer generation. The fact is that the nation and the entire culture has been subverted by Boomers for the past 70-80 years. Our economic policies are designed to maintain the Boomer standard of living of the 1960s while the rest of us get fucked. Who is the most powerful voting demographic? Boomers. Who has the most wealth tied up in the real estate bubble and the stock bubble? Boomers. Hence, inflationary policies are necessary to maintain the Ponzi until they die off.
That’s also why the big concern is population collapse. For decades the worry was overpopulation, but now suddenly there aren’t enough people. “Who will wipe my bottom when I’m in the assisted living center?” the boomers decry. “I know! Send in Consuela!”
There’s the real failure of fiat currency. If people were left to fend for themselves and their own retirement they’d probably just save up some gold-backed dollars and maybe buy blue-chip company stocks. But instead they get caught up in the sucker’s bet of growth stocks and other investments that depend on ever increasing populations. Then when the big die-off begins they’re suddenly stuck with a depreciating asset, just when they need it to be valuable. That might have something to do with the current run up in gold (and silver’s just about to breakthrough $50 again), but I imagine that’s more about overseas investors dumping dollars. Most retail investors don’t think about what they’re doing, just run on autopilot for 30 years.
“ Then when the big die-off begins they’re suddenly stuck with a depreciating asset, just when they need it to be valuable “
Starting to happen, real estate way overpriced – around here in Central WA the sales have ground to a halt. Four houses up for sale in my ‘hood, one over 5 months the others for at least 2 months. Two years ago they never made it to market here, sold via “pocket listings” or other word of mouth. One is now “pending” after they knocked about 35k off the price.
I’d figured some years ago “who is going to by a glut of boomer forever homes as they die off?” The musical chairs has ended no one left coming along with $750k for that boomer “investment”.
Prices will revert to the mean. Or cities will be more like Detroit, where a few occupied homes will draw down resources set up for millions instead of hundreds.
Yep. They will always sell, at the correct price for market conditions. I don’t see the condition for sky high go go pricing any longer.
Yes, the booms got all the good shit leaving those born after a 57 chevy with much less opportunity to play “happy daze”. Thats why the 58 thru 68 niche is properly called gen Jones. We are NOT boomers. Our parents were blessed being just too young for Normandy and Iwo Jima like the older kids in the Boss 429s.
I’m right on the cusp, born in mid 1964, and all my life I’ve felt I was trying to exist after a huge wave of locusts had passed, stripping and destroying everything in their path.
In the career fields, they never left, allowing nobody in our cohort a legitimate opportunity to advance, and worse, creating whole cadres of categories other than merit to promote on. So the white guy who has been pleasing your customers for 20 years is passed over for a Nigerian immigrant, or a purple haired femmunist.
The problem wasn’t even close to all boomers, but the ones who went to college and were brainwashed into all sorts of Marxist and Gramscian ideological swill, they went out to change the world without ever getting to understand their proper place in it. The hippies that became yuppies and moved into the management suites. And here we all are.
“…all my life I’ve felt I was trying to exist after a huge wave of locusts had passed, stripping and destroying everything in their path.”
Yep. 100% this.^^^
‘Inflation has devalued the buying power of the money’ — eric
You don’t say — this morning spot gold is trading at $4,055 an ounce, ‘up’ from under $400 in the early 1990s. But we’ve had a lot of permawars since then, so we had to print our way to
victoryabject defeat.The late Paul Macrae Montgomery of Newport News, Virginia developed what he called the magazine cover indicator. It is a contrary indicator, suggesting that by the time a social or economic trend is featured on the cover of a magazine such as Time, it is probably over.
On that cautionary note, this morning the New York Slimes features a brief headline, Gold Prices Hit Record High. It’s probably not enough on its own to pause the rally, but beware of other popular publications piling on.
The Lügenpresse is always wrong.
I agree the press is wrong.
In fact they are often wrong with the purpose of misleading retail investors.
I’d also note that the ‘record’ price of gold isn’t much more than inflation from the 1980 ‘record’ price of gold. I won’t be surprised if gold price doubles again in the next few years.
And silver, at its current “record high” around $50 is not even close to an inflation adjusted $200/ troy oz.
Eric: “Twenty or 30 years from now, who will be seen at old car shows, after all the old guys are gone?”
It looks to me going to a number of cruise ins weekly that the youngins will all be driving lowered Hondas with loud exhaust. That said there are still some reasonably priced older classics out there but it’s a lot less likely to be a Camaro, Challenger or Mustang that can be found cheap.
I’m just as likely to look at a first generation restored Honda Civic as a first generation Mustang as the Civics are a lot rarer. Don’t forget that when us old farts die someone young in the family might actually drive it as opposed to selling it to pay off their degree in gender fluid studies.
“my friend… Thao Vang Lor. On the condition that you don’t chop-top the roof like one of those beaners, don’t paint any idiotic flames on it like some white trash hillbilly, and don’t put a big, gay spoiler on the rear end like you see on all the other zipperheads’ cars. It just looks like hell. If you can refrain from doing any of that… it’s yours”