There was a sentence when telephony vociferation be a dime a minute if you used Sprint , and you could get a shave and a haircut for two bits . Were those prices as cheap as they vocalise in retrospect , or were they on par with what we ’d give today , based on the value of today ’s dollar sign ? Here are a few Graeco-Roman price points for comparison purposes .
1. Motel 6
Motel 6 was establish in 1962 and got its name from its way cost : $ 6 . Even when the chain went interior in 1968 , they still kept that same scurvy price by offering no - frills accommodations — the bed were on footstall to repress vacuuming sentence , and the television sets were coin - operated . Paying $ 6 for a elbow room in 1968 is the same as$40.87 in 2014 .
2. A Five-Cent Cigar
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During a heated 1917 Senate debate , Senator Joseph Bristow of Kansas was in the thick of a long - winded delivery that included a laundry leaning of “ What this land needs … . ” statements . Vice President Thomas Marshall leaned over to a clerk and remarked loud , “ What this country needs is a really good five - cent cigar ! ” Paying a atomic number 28 for a stogy in 1917 would be the same as buy one for93 centstoday .
3. A $29.95 Paint Job
“ I ’ll paint any automobile , any color for $ 29.95 ! ” Earl Scheib ’s price went up gradually as the years went by , but when he first opened up shop in 1965 , it scat you less than 30 dollar bill ( sometimes with $ 10 worth of dent removal thrown in for free ) to slap a young color on that AMC Rambler . Today that $ 29.95 paint caper would cost the equivalent of$218.34 .
4. Pepsi-Cola for a Nickel
Rival Coca - Cola was sell in six ounce bottles in 1946 at five cent a pop , so the Pepsi folks hit on the idea of selling their product in 12 snow leopard bottles for the same price : Pepsi - Cola strike the situation , twelve full apothecaries' ounce — that ’s a stack ! doubly as much for a nickel , too ; Pepsi - Cola is the drink for you ! Since five cents in 1946 is worth61 centstoday , Pepsi really was a bargain .
5. MAD Magazine for 25 Cents (“Cheap”)
mental image credit : MyTravelPhotos , via Flickr
What be a quarter in 1961 would run$1.98 in 2014 .
6. The $3990 Yugo
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Direct from Yugoslavia , the $ 3990 Yugo was the lowest - priced new car on the U.S. marketplace when it was introduced in 1986 . That sticker Mary Leontyne Price would read$8630.63today . ( The Yugo gained opprobrium in 1989 when one fumble off while cover Michigan ’s Mackinac Bridge during a high tip and plunge into the Straits below . )
7. Apple I for $666.66
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When the Apple I computer hit the market place in 1976 , the price rag was an unusual $ 666.66 . Steve Wozniak said at the fourth dimension the number had nothing to do with Satan and everything to do with his dear of repetitious number . The toll of making that first Apple was about $ 540 , so the $ 666.66 pass Woz both a decent mark - up and some obsessional - driven expiation . That original Apple would retail for$2777.62today , which still contains a squeamish double digit but cost a heck of a lot more than an iPad .
8. The Six Million Dollar Man
Back in 1974 , it cost $ 6,000,000 for the bionic share needed to rebuild a best , potent , quicker Steve Austin ( Lee Majors ) . Of naturally , today when the PowerBall jackpot is a bare $ 6 million it ’s not worth a slip to the flatulence station to buy a ticket , but that amount in 1974 is in reality the equivalent of$28,852,576.06 in 2014 dollar .
Motel 6 image viaWikimedia Commons
