[Fast Eddie]

y

 

[valiant67]

Charger, the second of three names the same 2 door car would wear in three years.
1975 was Coronet.
1976 was Charger.
1977 was Monaco.

 

[chuzz]

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I always liked that body style.

 

[Curious Joe]

Posted to give everyone an idea what the prices were like in 1975 and 1977. Price inflation in cars began the previous year, when a '74 Thunderbird Gold Special Edition hit the $10k mark - outlandish!

 

[valiant67]

It wasn't just inflation of the price. Interest rates rose with inflation back then. I believe the average new car loan rate (for a 48 month loan) were over 10%, sometimes well over, for the 1970s and 1980s..
Now we have inflation and increasing car prices, but interest rates are still held artificially low.

 

[Curious Joe]

It wasn't just inflation of the price. Interest rates rose with inflation back then. I believe the average new car loan rate (for a 48 month loan) were over 10%, sometimes well over, for the 1970s and 1980s..
Now we have inflation and increasing car prices, but interest rates are still held artificially low.

We bought our first new home in 1977 for $43,900. 15% down and financed at under 9% as I recall. Sold the same home in 1980 for $57,500. Was looking at a similar home by the same builder but with some important upgrades for about $66,900. Once we found out our mortgage would close at 21% we backed out and moved into an apartment. Never owned another home until 1999 - the same home we're in today. I don't recall the car finance rates we paid during the '70s but the mortgage rates didn't go haywire until the late '70s.

 

[Plymouthcranbrook]

We bought out home in 1983. The interest rate was 12%. Plus 5 points. We really needed to move.

 

[DC-93]

Oddly enough, I don’t hear any complaints about home owners today when their houses are skyrocketing in value!!
A 900 square foot house in Royal Oak, MI just sold for a quarter million!

Good for seller, but I question the buyers sanity.

 

[Fast Eddie]

Posted to give everyone an idea what the prices were like in 1975 and 1977. Price inflation in cars began the previous year, when a '74 Thunderbird Gold Special Edition hit the $10k mark - outlandish!

View attachment 88232
View attachment 88233

Here is the one from our 1974 Dodge Dart Sport...............

 

[Fast Eddie]

Oddly enough, I don’t hear any complaints about home owners today when their houses are skyrocketing in value!!
A 900 square foot house in Royal Oak, MI just sold for a quarter million!

Good for seller, but I question the buyers sanity.

I don't hear anyone complaining about the price of beer or the price of a coffee at Starbucks either.😇

 

[Dave Z]

Interest rates are rising now, too, to counter inflation. They are going slowly to avoid unwanted effects. I don't think the decision makers are getting nearly enough credit for their efforts. Yes, there are bad things happening, but would people rather the decision makers make wild stabs in the dark and hope for the best?

Side note: unemployment is extremely low right now. That's unusual. In the 1970s I believe it was much higher - I recall entire industries collapsing (e.g. steel) because nobody had invested and kept up with foreign firms, relying on import duties and other barriers instead.

 

[valiant67]

Interest rates are rising now, too, to counter inflation. They are going slowly to avoid unwanted effects. I don't think the decision makers are getting nearly enough credit for their efforts. Yes, there are bad things happening, but would people rather the decision makers make wild stabs in the dark and hope for the best?

Side note: unemployment is extremely low right now. That's unusual. In the 1970s I believe it was much higher - I recall entire industries collapsing (e.g. steel) because nobody had invested and kept up with foreign firms, relying on import duties and other barriers instead.

Interest rates should have been allowed to float earlier. This goes way back beyond the last year or two. Wall Street and the economy got hooked on various stimulus items and artificially low interest rates for years, much like car buyers got hooked on seemingly endless rebates and incentives.
Unemployment is low, but so is the labor force participation rate, historically, but it is starting to climb a little..

 

[Dave Z]

Interest rates should have been allowed to float earlier. This goes way back beyond the last year or two. Wall Street and the economy got hooked on various stimulus items and artificially low interest rates for years, much like car buyers got hooked on seemingly endless rebates and incentives.
Unemployment is low, but so is the labor force participation rate, historically, but it is starting to climb a little..

No argument from me, and I would have stopped buying bonds and securities five years ago when the economy started straightening out. I can't believe they were still doing that. It's insane. Regardless, there are a LOT of jobs out there at pretty much every level.

I've seen the cybercrowd talking about how inflation is due to “fiat currencies collapsing,” but if that was true, gold and stocks would both be really high, and house prices would still be climbing, and none of that's true. I think I'll continue to look at supply and demand charts, notice that demand is at an all time high while supply is constrained, nod, and say, “It's working the way it's supposed to.” The inflation is bringing higher interest rates which are bringing lower house prices, which is dropping the price on steel and lumber so people can afford to add onto their existing houses. At some point car production will stop being slammed by semiconductor and Russia-Ukrainian war issues and then car prices will suddenly plummet and dealers will actually have to start working again. If we give the markets enough time, they are somewhat self-correcting... but we've tried completely unguided markets and that was worse; the Great Depression was not necessarily the worst depression we had, but it's famous because it was the last of the really bad ones. Banks failed regularly before the FDIC and FSLIC. People formed local self support societies because commercial life insurance wasn't reliable.

Everything seems really hyped up... I was still reading headlines about how store shelves would be empty, just before the headlines about how Walmart and Target have massive overstocks...

 

[77 Monaco Brougham]

I don't hear anyone complaining about the price of a coffee at Starbucks. 😇

Really?
If that were true, then why is the Starbucks Coffee Chain in such dire financial condition?

 

[Curious Joe]

Really?
If that were true, then why is the Starbucks Coffee Chain in such dire financial condition?

Not familiar with Starbuck's finances but I hope their pathetic po****cs (nod to admin and mods) came back to bite them hard. They had very good products IMO and the standalone locations appear to be doing well in my area. Unfortunately, my grandchildren are disappointed that Starbucks is never on our itinerary.

 

[plymouth1]

Here is the one from our 1974 Dodge Dart Sport...............
View attachment 88246 View attachment 88247

$31 Destination charge. Wish that would come back