16-116 Garand Picture of the Day - 1959

[Mark in Rochester]

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[13Echo]

$97.50 to a 12 year old in 1959 might has well been $970.

[Bob Womack]

Inflation calulators put that as $800 in 2015 dollars. Interesting.

Bob

[Sentryduty]

Inflation calulators put that as $800 in 2015 dollars. Interesting.

Bob

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.

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.

[Seaspriter]

$97.50 to a 12 year old in 1959 might has well been $970.

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.

[daboone]

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.

[mmppres]

i remember those ad's

[Bob Seijas]

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.” .

[frankderrico]

How about a leather sling & scabbard for $6.50.

[frankderrico]

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.