MTFCA Forum

The difference in production numbers and prices between 1908-1909 and 1923-1924 is pretty striking.

Not a lot of things I can think of that prices go DOWN by 2/3 over the course of
10-15 years !

Burger in Spokane wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 03, 2019 10:11 am

Not a lot of things I can think of that prices go DOWN by 2/3 over the course of
10-15 years !

Computers?

This is due to the moving assembly line that began use in 1913 - 14 and continual design improvements to save as little as pennies on manufacturing costs.

Keith

Burger in Spokane wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 03, 2019 10:11 am

Not a lot of things I can think of that prices go DOWN by 2/3 over the course of
10-15 years !

What Tim said.

Pocket calculators

My first transistor radio cost $58 in 1960!
Allan from down under.

The first electronic pocket calculator (the HP 35) was $395 in 1970... which is what, about $2400 in today's money. And now you can get a calculator given to you...

Of course, thins got smaller as well... the Computing power of 1970(ish) took numerous rooms in a building and cost well over a million... and today's smart phone has more capacity and capability than would fit in said computer center... and if you subscribe to a cellphone service, they'll give you one for about what that HP35 cost... or less...

And for all this "improved technology", our cars will STILL get us from point A to point B and home again...

Susanne, When I was in civil engineering school in the early 1970's Fresno State had two HP 35's, no one could afford the $400., so we used slide rules and log tables and fought over who would check the HP's out for the day. Being a surveyor the HP's really helped with the trig on the sun azimuth calculations that other wise needed 10 place log tables to get correct answers on our location. Now a days people zip from place to place using their GPS and have no idea how they got there, yet we made it to the moon and back with that HP and Texas Instrument technology.

15 cent hamburgers at McDonalds. Back in the mid 60s, that is. Cheers, Bill

It's interesting to note that during the Model T's production run of nearly 19 years, the country was on the gold standard. I'm thinking that means for the most part, a 1927 dollar had the same purchasing power that a 1908 dollar had ? Since the Roosevelt administration "re-arranged" the monetary system in 1935, inflation has continued apace ever since. Bill notes 15-cent hamburgers in the mid 1960's; nowadays, most items cost seven to ten times what they did back then, vis-a-vis Mickey D's current "dollar menu". I reckon we are now on an "oil standard", another aspect of the revolution Henry Ford wrought.