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It is truly amazing how the prices in the automotive world have kept up with inflation. We all know how expensive new cars are. Just the other evening I caught an ad in an upscale magazine that showed a model that had a base price of $22 k with a price "as shown" of $33k. That was a domestic car that had to be built at some salesman's desk. Adding options or option packages can quickly get almost any car up to the US average new car cost of $30k. I remember back in the early '70 when the 911's finally crested $10k as a base price after a couple of years at $9990. We all thought that was the end of sales in this country. Who would ever pay over ten thousand dollars for a Porsche with no options? Of course you must remember that the average US car was less that $6k. It was said that the factory phased out the 914 because the price got too high for US buyers. That car started at $3995 in 1970 and finished at $8250 in 1976. In fairness, the last versions were all two liter cars with the appearance group and alloy wheels and the German Mark had strengthened against the dollar by about 30% in '75-'76. I called Charlie White, a 356 Registry vendor who was kind enough to pass along an accessory list from the Porsche factory for 1956. The options were few and nearly all of them could have been added to your new car for the money you currently have in your front pocket. The most expensive item on the list was a sunroof at $155. At 4% of the base price you can see why many cars were delivered without it. Still, looking back, it would have been a good investment since it now commands about a five thousand premium over a straight coupe. The sunroof adds enough value that many have been cut off rusty cars over the years and added to solid ones. Sound systems were the next big item and the best was AM/FM/SW radios without stereo. Both Becker and Blaupunkt were offered and ranged from $89 to $126 including antenna and two speakers. These days those prices wouldn't even pay the sales tax. Antennas could be upgraded for short money, a retractable hand crank (!) version was offered for $19.35 and an "automatic electric" was $47.60. You have to wonder who came up with these figures, some bean counter thought that $19.34 wasn't enough money and that at $19.36 they wouldn't sell? For travelers two sets of fitted luggage were offered. Top of the line was three pieces in leather at $93.00 and plaid canvas for the thrifty for $37.20. (There's Hans the bean counter again.) A large leather bag with two handles that fit between the gas tank and the spare tire in the front compartment was $15.25. Luggage racks were popular and were offered by many aftermarket suppliers. I recall one in the monthly ad for MG Mitten that was always on the back cover of Sports Cars Illustrated that chrome and listed for $12. It was just a little out of reach but then the minimum wage was $1 per hour and a middle class family man earned $100 per week. Boy, have things changed. The painted luggage rack offered by the factory could be ordered for $18.60. Today good ones can be found on Ebay for $500 if you're quick at the end. All the early cars were delivered with six volt systems so we were always looking for ways to improve the lighting. The factory had fog lights that mounted on the bumper that were $26.20. That seemed like a lot of money so some of us found our way down to see Manny, Moe, and Jack and bought a small sealed beam unit for $5.00 complete with a 6v bulb. There was an article in Pano that went to great lengths to explain that if you only had one driving light it should be mounted on the passenger side and directed across the path of the car for best results. After much debate that became the standard. I'm not real sure why we didn't just buy two and aim them both straight ahead. Eventually that's what everyone did, we were going up against big American cars with the new "quadrabeam" headlights (that meant four, I found out later) and we needed four lights instead of two. The problem with the single headlights was that when you hit the high beams the oncoming cars thought you just hit a bump in the road. Our cars were low; it was sorta like a Chihuahua barking at a Great Dane. If they didn't see four lights they wouldn't even look for the dimmer switch. The Porsche Factory shipped cars all over the world so many of the accessories were offered and installed at the dealer. Outside rear view mirrors were offered for $3.00 that chipped to the door or for $6.00 a Ponto Stabli mirror would be bolted to the door. Many US dealers that had multiple car lines often used whatever was handy. A recent example was the '56 A coupe that I reviewed a couple of years ago in this column that had a '56 Buick Roadmaster bolted to the top of the front fender. As a follow-up, that car was sold for $28k at a Maine auction to a fellow who had never seen one before. With 13k miles on it, it was worth under $20k to me so I figured the new owner overpaid. Two years later it showed up in the hands of a well known collector for a reported $80k. So much for overpaying. I should mention that the car is now reported to be original with no paint work ever done but when I saw the little silver coupe the right side had been repainted and new lower molding installed due to a garage door scrape. Strange how that works, maybe that Maine bidder wasn't such an amateur after all. Even in the fifties wheels were important. There were no mag or alloy wheels but the steel rims were offered in chrome for $59.50 and that was for five. Those of us without the big bucks would paint the rims with a rattle can every few months just to keep them shiny. A lot of work but the paint was only $1.99. There was always that sense of victory when you added something to your car yourself especially when a few dollars were saved. Besides it was like Christmas when the package arrived from the West Coast, where all the good stuff was sold. But time marches on, prices continue to climb and things just aren't as simple as they used to be "in the old days". Maybe that's not really a bad thing, besides we all still have those great memories. KTF |
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