GregP notes:


The PC router - 890 series - I just bought cost a bit under $200.
It's replacing a 28 yr old Craftsman that cost $50+ with single
speed, smaller motor, rougher adjustment, and a tendency to
go out of adjustment. That $50 has to be in the neighborhood
of $150 today.

You're probably close. And the changes in technology, whether in manufacturing
or in the item itself, tend to show up everwhere. My first new car was a '57
Chevy convertible, 283 V8 with the Duntov package (3/4 race cam, 11 or 11.5
compression ratio, dual 4 barrels, no suspension changes). It was a rocket in a
straight line, deadly in curves and didn't stop for ****. But it cost under 3
grand.

Of course, I was making about 55 bucks a week when I traded a '50 Studebaker on
the Chevy.

A car with similar speed today would probably cost 20 grand, maybe 25, but
additional features would include excellent handling, much (much, much, much)
better brakes and tires, and interior padding and belts and other features that
would give driver and passengers at least a chance of surviving a low to medium
speed crash, and some hope of making it out of a really bad mess. The '57 Chevy
interior was a killer all by itself. But, jeez, I loved that car!

Charlie Self
"Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity
has made them good." H. L. Mencken