Imagine this: You wake up early on a Saturday morning and think, “This is a great day to buy a new car!” So you stroll on over to your local bank to pull out $600. Then you walk over to the dealership to purchase yourself a brand new, fully loaded car . . . with cold, hard cash. $600 is all you needed back in 1930 to own that new car smell, and to fill up your tank would have cost you less than anything at Starbucks.
But as much as car prices and gas prices have changed over the years, what many people don’t realize is that if you take inflation into account, we’re actually paying less for gas now than we were back in the days of 10¢/gallon gasoline. Heck, if you go back to gas prices in 1918, they are the equivalent of $3.57/gallon today. Ouch!
Here is a comparison from the last eight decades of the average costs of gas (per gallon) and new cars.
| Gas Prices (Per Gallon) | New Car Prices | |
| 1930 | 10¢ | $600 |
| 1940 | 11¢ | $850 |
| 1950 | 18¢ | $1,510 |
| 1960 | 25¢ | $2,600 |
| 1970 | 36¢ | $3,450 |
| 1980 | $1.19 | $7,200 |
| 1990 | $1.34 | $16,950 |
| 2000 | $1.50 | $20,355 |
| 2009 | $2.05 | $26,300 |
