Gas Prices in the 1970s

Doppler9000 wrote:

xpatUSA wrote:

Scottelly wrote:

larryj wrote:

A fill up was under $7.00 on the 20 gallon gas tank!

and a new Porsche cost $4,000.

. . . and I remember my mom telling me back then that a good income was $20,000 per year, which was what an airline pilot or an engineer might make at that time. Today a new Porsche costs around $100,000, but an airline pilot or engineer doesn't make $500,000 (more like half that or less). We can see how society has "progresse" by affordability of vehicles, homes, food . . . and, of course, gas. It seems to me that society hasn't progressed, but regressed, since just about all things have become more expensive.

Agreed!

At one time, back in England, true inflation was measured by the price of a Mars bar.

I also remember when a box of matches contained on average 50 of them ...

The sports car market has changed significantly in the past 50 years.

In 1975, a Porsche Turbo Carrera was $25,850. It made 234 horsepower and did 0-60 in 5.9 seconds, 20 mpg.

A 2021 Subaru WRX STI was $38,170. 305 hp, 0-60 in 5.3 seconds, 0.93g lateral acceleration, 25 mpg, navigation, airbags, etc., etc.

How much was a sporty Subaru in 1975?

We can look at Luxury cars, like a four-door Mercedes or Cadilac, if you prefer. The same applies though. Today a pilot or engineer would have to dish out half a year's pay, but in 1975 just a quarter of a year's pay. New houses were much less back then too, if I'm not mistaken - about a year's pay for a decent three bedroom house in a decent neighborhood, but two years' pay today (for an airline pilot or engineer . . . not for me . . . it would cost me or a typical worker at Walmart or Amazon many years' pay). Luckily rents haven't gone up that much over the past 30 years (approximately doubled, while gas and some other things have quadrupled . . . but not food, computers, televisions, or clothes . . . or cell phones).

In 2021, the average pilot at a major US airline made more than $200,000.