Originally Posted by GoldenBear
I'm going to to purchase a 2012 ZL1. In fact, I've been wanting to purchase a high performance 5th Gen Camaro since the 2006 Detroit Auto Show. I've just been waiting for Chevrolet to produce the right 5th Gen Camaro for me, and the ZL1 is the right Camaro for me. However, at $50,000 or more, I began thinking a little bit about the value compared to the the value Chevrolet produced in the late 1960's.
My 1969 Z28, purchased from Guardian Chevrolet in Brea, CA, in June of 1969, sold with a MSRP of $4,168.75, which would be (according to the current CPI numbers, and I know that the government CPI is lower than actual real world inflation) $25,083.46 in 2011 dollars.
I may be living in the past, but a ~$50K ZL1 price is about two times the price of my 1969 Z28 in real dollars. I realize that the ZL1, with 40 plus years of technological improvements, is a considerably better and more technologically advanced car than my 1969 Z28, but still, twice the price is a hefty premium to pay.
I liked the idea that in the mid to late 60's the average muscle car aficionado could walk into a Chevy dealer and check the right RPO boxes and order the car of one's dreams without having to spend a king's ransom. IMHO, that was one of the great things about Chevrolet muscle in the 60's, it was affordable. Whereas, today it seems that to be able to afford the type of performance that was available to the average income earner in the 60's, one has to be relatively well off.
Maybe I'm just being nostalgic, and don't get me wrong, I think it's great that Chevrolet is offering a Camaro as impressive as the ZL1 is today. I'd just like to see the performance it offers be as affordable today as it was in the 60's so those of us who love Chevrolet performance are able to experience the exhilaration available today just as easily as we were able to experience it then. I love to see Chevrolet muscle on the road.
I do understand the differences between the costs of automobile manufacturing today and in the 1960's, and I am just dreaming here, but it's always fun to dream.
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