New UK Car Price Listings, December 1974

[adw1977]

The Austin 1100 was also cheaper than the Lada 1200 (£945 vs £981). Would be interesting to see what equipment you got in these two particular models (radio, heated rear window etc) to see if the Austin really was a bargain.

The latest brochure I have for the 1100 is 1972, at that time a heated rear window was an optional extra.

Radio is not mentioned, I think in 1974 it was still rare for radios to be standard equipment, they were usually fitted by the dealer as an accessory. I have a Feb 1975 Ford brochure and a radio was only standard in the top trim levels of Cortina (2000E) and Granada (GXL).

[Felly Magic]

Hmm, mum had a 1974 Datsun 100A, I wonder how much that was new

[Junkman]

So in todays money, a P6 V8 was nearly 5 bags cheaper than a 520i.

The Green Lean Machine was cheaper than a 280E.

And my God, look at the price of a Fiat 130!  Almost 50k in 2017 coin!

[JeeExEll]

Hmm, mum had a 1974 Datsun 100A, I wonder how much that was new

Datsun 100A was £1140 for a 2-door, or £1199 for either a 4-door or estate.

 

I've now added some more prices from the original magazine.

[martc]

The latest brochure I have for the 1100 is 1972, at that time a heated rear window was an optional extra.

Radio is not mentioned, I think in 1974 it was still rare for radios to be standard equipment, they were usually fitted by the dealer as an accessory. I have a Feb 1975 Ford brochure and a radio was only standard in the top trim levels of Cortina (2000E) and Granada (GXL).

Did the Lada come with a radio, heated window etc? I know theJapanaese cars of the 70's beat the European competition with standard features which were seen as extras in Europe; and some of the East European ones also seemed well equipped when compared to the West.

[LostnotFound]

^^ How does that compare against today's figures?

 

(X 11.1).

 

Google suggests a qualified teacher is on 22 - 33 (presumably depending on experience / head of department I guess?)

 

So based on that cars are a tad cheaper?

 

How much discount would you have got on all those prices in the 70's? was there a bit of scope to negotiate some of the less popular models?

[face]

In hindsight, Datsuns look a great buy to me.

[JeeExEll]

Thread revival for anyone who's interested, new car prices from 45 years ago.  1974 to 2019 price conversion rate is currently showing as 10.3.

Still have the Motor mag, road test that week was of the Opel Commodore Coupe GSE 2.8i auto.  116mph,   0-60 in 10.3,   17.3mpg.  Gorgeous looking car, XGH 390N, bronze, tax due September 1988.

[SiC]

The Triumph Dolomite Sprint was a right bargain for the time wasn't it! Especially as it had pretty decent performance for the money. No wonder so many MGBs were sold too, they're pretty cheap compared to the average car too. 

A really interesting list. 

[LightBulbFun]

On 8/5/2017 at 9:16 AM, JeeExEll said:

In 1974 the whole selection of cars available in the UK could be fitted into just over 6 columns in the original magazine, less than 2 pages of A4 size. The last 2/3 column was for campervans.

 

well not quite the whole selection, I dont see AC or Invacar on that list! (although to be fair if im reading things correctly Model 70's aside I dont think AC made any cars in 1974!)

(id quite like to find an official Price for an Model 70,  £1799 is the commonly thrown around ex works figure for 1977 but knowing where that number originated from im not sure how accurate it is)

[JeeExEll]

AC list the 3000 model but there's no price.  Invacar not listed. (Were they available for the general public to buy, don't know?).  

I found the mag by chance this morning so can post up prices for specific models if anyone wants them. Secondhand prices are interesting, a one owner 1970 Aston DB6 for £2595 from a dealer, 'without a doubt the finest example available'. (Why do I suddenly have an image of Arfur Daley in my head).

[MarvinsMom]

here is a story to illustrate how things were in 1974 - my father was working then as a local council officer, and his salary went from something like £1700 pa to £2500 pa in a matter of months.

why? well Ted Heath had agreed to an inflation plus 1% pay settlement with NALGO, me fathers union.

it only lasted a matter of months, as that pay deal REALLY was bankrupting the council!

Inflation was he thinks running at about 25% for most of the 1970's, peaking at 40%-ish towards the end of the decade. and interest rated were about 15% - terrifying!!

given that i'm amazed anyone could ACTUALLY afford a new car! never mind have the balls to take one on....

interesting though that Rodney MIni was £1108 new, though i wonder if that is the on the road price, or just the sticker price?

and here is a bonus Rodney Mini picture.

[JeeExEll]

Also listed is a 'manufacturer' called Oyler who did coachbuilt Mini conversions -

Oyler Contessa Gloria 1275,  £3950

Contessa Gloria 1000 auto,  £3950

That's a lot of £££ for a Mini.

Also 'Bella Mia' and 'Victoria' variants for £3150.

Maybe worth a Google if you're into Minis.

 

Also, 

Crayford Cortina 1300,  £1759

Crayford William 780cc,  no price listed, no idea what it was, maybe they were free

Crayford Mercedes 250,  £6066

Crayford Audi 100GL,  £4112

[LightBulbFun]

32 minutes ago, JeeExEll said:

AC list the 3000 model but there's no price.  Invacar not listed. (Were they available for the general public to buy, don't know?).

interesting to see the 3000 listed, I assume it means AC 3000ME which was in development, but not for sale yet in 1974 (but was shown off in 1973)

Quote

where they available by the general public to buy

im surprised thats still a question on here!

 indeed back in the day you could buy an Invacar/Model 70 privately new if you so wanted to, although out of the about 18200 or so Model 70's produced only about 38 where private examples (28 from Invacar and 10 from AC from what I can see), since well why buy one when you could get one from the government for free! so as you can imagine they did not sell many privately (especially if the £1799 ex works price is to believe, when a Mini of the time was about £1K),

(sadly only 3 AC's and 1 Invacar example are known to survive/exist today) 

My Invacar Model 70 happens to be such a private example,  

 

 

[JeeExEll]

Another listing I've never heard of is the rather unfortunately named Siva Llama which appears to be a fibreglass Imp-based Mini-Moke type thing, for £1150 to £1422 completely built, price depending on model. Interesting looking car with potential for improvement to make it useful. Bet it was quick though, a 998 version on Weber 40s would make a good autotester.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siva_Motor_Car_Company

Apparently Doctor Who's tourer was built by Siva, a car which I didn't like much. Would have been better if he'd just driven the cool 1950s Ford Pop 103E it was based on.

[SiC]

The BoE inflation calculator allows you to see what it'd be equivalent to now:

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator

What is interesting, as others have said, is how bad inflation was. 

Take the MGB GT for instance (correct year for mine too) at £2101 list. In 1974 to now equivalent it's £21,509.59

However £2101 a year before in 1973 would be £24,960.33 now.

While £2101 a year after in 1975 would be £17,312.99 now.

Just imagine if you had £25k in your savings account right now. Then in two years time that exact same money became £17k. Loosing £8k in just two years...

With our economy being pretty buoyant over the last decade, that is quite a hard thing to comprehend.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

On 8/5/2017 at 12:30 PM, 3VOM said:

Early 70s had some of the worst inflation since WW2....

Not helped by oil crisis and union wage bargaining power. As it happens, the inflation rate reached 26% between August and December 1974. That was the peak figure and it never exceeded that again. Nowadays people get nervous if it goes above 3%.

Then you had to add on things like purchase tax on cars.

Still, £3531 for the Ro80 looks reasonable value compared to some of the other imports on the list. Also, an Alfa Montreal seems to have cost over a grand more in RHD than its LHD sister; quite insane. 

The top rate of income tax on earned income in 1974 was 83%. On top of that, investment/unearned income was taxed at an additional 15%, so if you/your parents had an income of over £20,000 a year at the time, they would effectively lose about 98% of anything over that 20 grand to the Revenue.

A lot of people became tax exiles, most notably Sean Connery, who has been domiciled overseas for decades and has never returned here.

[The_Equalizer]

On 12/7/2019 at 8:53 PM, SiC said:

What is interesting, as others have said, is how bad inflation was. 

Just imagine if you had £25k in your savings account right now. Then in two years time that exact same money became £17k. Loosing £8k in just two years...

With our economy being pretty buoyant over the last decade, that is quite a hard thing to comprehend.

For anyone who likes numbers here is a nice graph (just pop those interest rates into a mortgage calculator):