Cars are an interesting example since even a cheap car today is significantly better in almost every way than the best car from the 60s.
However the very good cars have gotten much more expensive. So while we’ve been able to do more with less, we’re also doing A LOT more at the higher end.
For example, a Rolls Royce Phantom from the 60s was $6-8000. A new Nissan Versa for $20,000 is faster, more fuel efficient, safer. Maybe the leather in the Rolls-Royce is better.
My point is that it’s difficult to compare what you can buy over time since what is produced changes as well.
The inflation in luxury goods is staggering. High school kids used to be able to afford concert tickets, football games, and Broadway plays. That Phantom was a year’s salary for a school teacher; now the most expensive cars are twenty year’s salary. It’s not that the products are so much better; there’s a larger pool of very wealthy people. In 1960, if a man’s wife had a job they were considered ‘poor.’ Today, even professionals need two salaries to keep up with the Joneses
Outside of issues caused by Ticketmaster, there’s also just a lot more people who want to see only a few performers. It seems like there’s always a couple of names that are so overwhelmingly popular. Add to that the ease at which people can travel hundreds of miles, and your demand outpaces supply.
Property costs are probably the biggest factor that is affected by a larger population. We’ve got more people but everyone still wants to live in the same areas (and we’re bad at increasing the density of housing in these areas).
Yeah the pricing of cars has really expanded. It used to be $1000-10,000 covered basically all the new cars in 1960. Now it’s closer to $10,000-$10,000,000. Although I wonder if the distribution actually looks about the same.
The Phantom VI (the Phantom available in 1980) cost nearly nearly half a million pounds new. The Silver Spirit (or Spur depending on where you were) is probably the rolls you are thinking of, and it had a MSRP of a little over $100k new.
According to the CPI inflation calculator the Phantom would be about $1.4 million today, and the Silver Spirit would be about $334k.
This year’s phantom starts at around half a million but (IMO) it’s more of a “luxury car” compared to the ultra high end Phantom VI. But I think the Phantom is less of a car you buy and more of a modular platform you build your car on top of so I imagine there’s so multimillion dollar phantoms rolling (hehe) around
Yeah the phantom might not be a good choice since its price varies hugely based on customization and didn’t have a MSRP. I was looking at the Phantom V though which was produced in the 60s.
Cars are an interesting example since even a cheap car today is significantly better in almost every way than the best car from the 60s.
However the very good cars have gotten much more expensive. So while we’ve been able to do more with less, we’re also doing A LOT more at the higher end.
For example, a Rolls Royce Phantom from the 60s was $6-8000. A new Nissan Versa for $20,000 is faster, more fuel efficient, safer. Maybe the leather in the Rolls-Royce is better.
My point is that it’s difficult to compare what you can buy over time since what is produced changes as well.
I’d bet the resale value on the rolls Royce is better than the Nissan
The inflation in luxury goods is staggering. High school kids used to be able to afford concert tickets, football games, and Broadway plays. That Phantom was a year’s salary for a school teacher; now the most expensive cars are twenty year’s salary. It’s not that the products are so much better; there’s a larger pool of very wealthy people. In 1960, if a man’s wife had a job they were considered ‘poor.’ Today, even professionals need two salaries to keep up with the Joneses
Outside of issues caused by Ticketmaster, there’s also just a lot more people who want to see only a few performers. It seems like there’s always a couple of names that are so overwhelmingly popular. Add to that the ease at which people can travel hundreds of miles, and your demand outpaces supply.
Property costs are probably the biggest factor that is affected by a larger population. We’ve got more people but everyone still wants to live in the same areas (and we’re bad at increasing the density of housing in these areas).
Yeah the pricing of cars has really expanded. It used to be $1000-10,000 covered basically all the new cars in 1960. Now it’s closer to $10,000-$10,000,000. Although I wonder if the distribution actually looks about the same.
The Phantom VI (the Phantom available in 1980) cost nearly nearly half a million pounds new. The Silver Spirit (or Spur depending on where you were) is probably the rolls you are thinking of, and it had a MSRP of a little over $100k new.
According to the CPI inflation calculator the Phantom would be about $1.4 million today, and the Silver Spirit would be about $334k.
This year’s phantom starts at around half a million but (IMO) it’s more of a “luxury car” compared to the ultra high end Phantom VI. But I think the Phantom is less of a car you buy and more of a modular platform you build your car on top of so I imagine there’s so multimillion dollar phantoms rolling (hehe) around
Yeah the phantom might not be a good choice since its price varies hugely based on customization and didn’t have a MSRP. I was looking at the Phantom V though which was produced in the 60s.