1936 Plymouth 4-Door Sedan

[W.F. Brown- III]

While going through some old papers of my grandmother's, I found this order sheet for a 1936 Plymouth P-2, 4-door sedan she bought new for $750. She traded their old 1927 Olds, and got $100 on the trade.

I thought this old order sheet may be of interest to folks here. I sure would like to have that '36 now.

[Edward Roberts]

Wow, $34 a month seems like it would be quite a hefty chunk of change back then, but it's interesting (no pun intended) that there was a Time Payment Charge of $111, or a little over $6 per month. That comes out to 14.4% of the original price. Any math majors to give us a break-down adjusted for inflation and average income?

[Reg Evans]

I found this inflation calculator on Google. Looks like it would be around $522 in todays dollars if I did it right.

http://inflationdata.com/inflation/Inflation_Calculators/Inflation_Calculator.asp#calcresults

[Edward Roberts]

Cool. 1460% inflation. Wow... kinda puts things into perspective.

I did a little more figgerin’:

The average salary in the 1930’s was $1,368. Household income would not have been much more… possibly laundry income or something along those lines. With a walk-out price of $772.20, that car price came in at about 56% of the annual income of a family.

Adjusted for inflation that car costs around $12,000 today. The price of the average Ford Focus is $14,755. (I chose the Focus because it is a lower end 4-door sedan, and it was the first example that popped up – they don’t pay me to do this stuff at work.) Obviously, that is more than the Plymouth after adjusting for inflation. So in the 30’s one certainly got more bang for their buck (technological advances not withstanding). However, the average income today is right around $46,000. That means the price of the Focus is only about 32% of the average household income today.

1930’s – the car cost 56% of income

2000’s – the car costs 32% of income

Also, there were 21 documented lynchings in the 1930’s… so much for “the good old days.”

[W.F. Brown- III]

That's some interesting information on the cost of a car then and now.

My grandparent's first car was a 1922 Dodge Brothers Touring Car. I believe they paid around $600 for that car (I have the sales receipt for that one, too). Their next car was a 1927 Olds (the one that was a trade-in on the '36 Plymouth).

My grandfather died in 1932, and the only family income at the time the '36 Plymouth was purchased was from my aunt (who lived at home) who was a school teacher.

[tysouthwick]

My grandmother was only six! Her first car was a 41 Ford Coupe Somethin, but that was in 1948

[Robert Horne]

Cool. 1460% inflation. Wow... kinda puts things into perspective.

I did a little more figgerin’:

The average salary in the 1930’s was $1,368. Household income would not have been much more… possibly laundry income or something along those lines. With a walk-out price of $772.20, that car price came in at about 56% of the annual income of a family.

Adjusted for inflation that car costs around $12,000 today. The price of the average Ford Focus is $14,755. (I chose the Focus because it is a lower end 4-door sedan, and it was the first example that popped up – they don’t pay me to do this stuff at work.) Obviously, that is more than the Plymouth after adjusting for inflation. So in the 30’s one certainly got more bang for their buck (technological advances not withstanding). However, the average income today is right around $46,000. That means the price of the Focus is only about 32% of the average household income today.

1930’s – the car cost 56% of income

2000’s – the car costs 32% of income

Also, there were 21 documented lynchings in the 1930’s… so much for “the good old days.”

My 2000 Dodge Avenger cost $19,300. I do not know what a new Dodge today would cost. Compare a 36 Plymouth/Dodge to a new Dodge of today, I believe the % of income cost would probably be about the same.