Used car prices, late 50's

[decappastubbie]

Looking through some old late 50's Motor Trend magazines it is interesting to see what some vintage cars went for, I guess the classic car movement had not started yet.

1932 Cadillac V16 Double Cowl Phaeton ready to drive anywhere $900.00

1932 Auburn 8 Convertible Sedan, again drive anywhere $550.00

Of course these cars old news and close to 30 years old.

I also love the old adds.

[PackardV8]

True, hindsight is 20/20. The right buy back then would today set your children up with an estate. A early '60s Ferrari GTO at the right time was just a used race car and could have been bought for $5,000. At their peak, after Enzo died, one sold for $52,000,000.

Back to the "classics". Ever driven one? What are multi-million-dollar classics today are still tiny small in the front seat, just old, narrow, hard-steering, rough-riding, weak brakes cars which got 8 MPG, parts and tires expensive and difficult to find, even in the '50s.

Closer to home, if one had to drive an R3 Avanti 4-speed every day in I-405 rush hour traffic in August, it might be for sale soon.

[Sdude]

Listed in June 1951 Motor Trend;

1934 Lincoln V12, body by LeBaron, convertible coupe. Good tires, needs top and front leather. Extra motor and transmission. Price $450.

1932 Auburn 12Cyl roadster. Needs paint and top. Motor and body in excellent shape, also spare body parts for same. Price $125.

And this one did not list a price but I wonder what it sold for;

1948 Tucker four-door sedan, two extra motors with other parts available.

[WinM1895]

Looking through some old late 50's Motor Trend magazines it is interesting to see what some vintage cars went for, I guess the classic car movement had not started yet.

1932 Cadillac V16 Double Cowl Phaeton ready to drive anywhere $900.00

1932 Auburn 8 Convertible Sedan, again drive anywhere $550.00

Of course these cars old news and close to 30 years old.

I also love the old adds.

Robert J. Gottlieb, a Beverly Hills attorney and long time collector of Packards was M/T's go to classic car guy. Bob wrote a monthly column called Classic Comments.

The thing is, there were no circuses back then run by the Kruse Boys and Barrett-Jackson. So the cars weren't in the public eye, weren't worth very much.

For example, in an LA Times ad I read in 1961, Mae West's former 1931 J Duesenberg Murphy Town Car was for sale on a Hollywood used car lot: Price 500 bucks!

In 1969, I bought Charlie Chaplin's former 1934 Packard V12 Rollston Landaulet from a chicken farmer in the San Fernando Valley for 400 bucks.

I went there to look at a rare (even then) 1948 Nash convertible, spotted the Packard which was serving as a chicken coop.

Even though it was rough as a cob and covered with chicken poop, I bought it. Passed on the Nash, as it was a rusty pile of miseries.

[rockinhawk]

You gotta remember too, Average wages were about $50.bucks per week. I remember my Uncle Fred got a Promotion to $2.00 per hour in 1952. He went out and bought a new Oldsmobile Convertable to celebrate. He kept it untill 1966.

[southbend]

FYI, $500.00 in 1951 is equal to $4515.02 in 2014 dollars.

Source: CPI calculator: http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

Interesting to play with if you have nothing better to do.

Average yearly wage, $2799.00. Source: http://thecostofliving.com/index.php?id=119&a=1

[BeeJay]

I bought my first Studebaker in '55. Commander Regal coupe with radio, heater,ww's, full hubcaps, OD, and tinted windows. Loaded. Cost $800 and I had to finance most of it. Of course, I was an apprentice at the time earning $1.25 an hour.
Bob