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$97.50 to a 12 year old in 1959 might has well been $970.
Inflation calulators put that as $800 in 2015 dollars. Interesting.
Bob
I noticed the lay-away plan!
Back in 1971 I'd just got out of the Navy. I wanted an M1 so bad so that's the way I had to do it. Took 3 months of scrimping but it was worth it. Back then a local but honest to goodness real military surplus store had e-bloc and seriously inexpensive ammo. Wish I still had that M1.
i remember those ad's
Ye Old Hunter in Virginia first began to sell the Interarms Lend Lease guns in February 1959 at $79.95 for standard and $89.95 for “near-mint.” .
How about a leather sling & scabbard for $6.50.
I enjoy tinkering with those calculators to figure the cost of things like houses, cars, and firearms then vs now. A lot of the time people look at cost of an item back then as "cheap" and cannot believe how much certain things are "worth now" but after you factor in inflation, and then consider the average wages, things tend to be more affordable now, and many old items that "increased" in value don't stand up so well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Womack
General example, a particular car sold at Barret-Jackson for X amount of dollars 15 miles on the odometer, stored since new. A friend that really liked that car used the example as a cudgel in pub talk trumps, extolling the great investment value of his particular favorite. I easily researched the original sale price, applied inflation, gave very conservative assessments on storage, upkeep and insurance costs, and concluded the seller broke even at best. Is all this "investor" did was buy a car, never drive it and keep it nice for a few decades for the next guy to enjoy.
It's just fun looking back at those ads.
One thing that was different then, is any one could order a gun through the mail and have it delivered to your home.
Not to rub salt, but in Canada this is still the case. Order a gun through the mail, catalog, internet website, and it can be shipped directly to your front door, or post office.Quote:
Originally Posted by frankderrico
Private sales between individuals work that way too.
No one noticed that the add is of the very rare left hand Garand
Like the Left-handed Lee-Enfield my father spotted in an old war movie, a result of a flipped negative, I don't know which film it was but it set me off on a bit of a research project.
It was. I was 12 once and purchased a Knightkit Amateur radio to build for $99.99. Took a lot of lawn cutting, snow shoveling, baby sitting, trash hauling, corn picking, and house painting to earn it. But to put it into perspective, in 1959 my father went to the Elmwood Sports Shop in Cranston RI with me in tow to buy me a really good baseball glove (I'd outgrown the kid's model). It was $12.95. While I was picking out a baseball glove, he found a big old wooden barrel full of Lee Enfields for $12.95, and picked out the best he could find. IOW, in 1959 you could by 8 Enfields for one M1 Garand. Interesting perspective on the value of an M1 Garand so many years ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by 13Echo
My first rifle a Remington 580 was bought thru the mail by my father i was 5 years old an he paid 27.50 total with shipping for it
Still have it an shoots great too
I am reminded of a story my aunt told about when she and my parents were newly married and could only afford 12 ears of corn for dinner (as a change from Cornflakes)... my father said he would sign a lifetime contract for $10,000 a year :)
My father thought his original GI mortgage of $125 per month for a large house and 3/4 of an acre was userous... until the '80s. Then he said, "I don't know how you guys live." At the time I had a two-bedroom townhouse with a $450 mortgage.
Bob
I bought a 310 Cadet from Kliens (Chicago?) when I was twelve. Mail order delivery. Around twelve dollars shipped.
Still have it 57 years later.
Ed